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WINDING PATHS 


BY 

GERTRUDE PAGE 


“So many gods, so many creeds, 

So many paths that wind and wind. 
And just the art of being kind 
Is all the sad world needs.” 



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NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 


1911 


Copyright, 1911, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 


Published June, 1911 


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WINDING PATHS 


CHAPTER I 

There were several interesting points about Hal 
Pritchard and Lorraine Vivian, but perhaps the most 
striking was their friendship for each other. From two 
wide-apart extremes they had somehow gravitated together, 
and commenced at boarding school a friendship which only 
deepened and strengthened after their exit from the wise 
supervision of the Misses Walton, and their entrance as 
finished ” young women into the wide area of the world 
at large. 

Lorraine went first. She was six years older than 
Hal, and under ordinary circumstances would hardly have 
been at school with her at all. As it was, she went at 
nineteen because she was not very strong, and sea air was 
considered good for her. She was a sort of parlor boarder, 
sent to study languages and accomplishments while she 
inhaled the sea air of Eastgate. Why, among all the 
scholars, who for the most part regarded her as a re- 
splendent, beautifully dressed being outside their sphere, 
she should have quickly developed an ardent affection for 
Hal, the rough-and-ready tomboy, remained a mystery; 
but far from being a passing fancy, it ripened steadily into 
a deep and lasting attachment. 

When Hal was fifteen, Lorraine left; and it has to be 
admitted that the anxious, motherly hearts of the Misses 
Walton drew a deep breath of relief, and hoped the friend- 
ship would now cease, unfed by daily contact and daily 
mutual interests. But there they underestimated the 

I 


2 


WINDING PATHS 


depth of affection already in the hearts of the girls, and 
their natural loyalty, which scorned a mere question of 
separation, and entered into one another’s interests just 
as eagerly as when they were together. 

Not that they, the Misses Walton, had anything ac- 
tually against Lorraine, beyond the fact that she promised 
a degree of beauty likely, they felt, coupled as it was with 
a charming wit and a fascinating personality, to open out 
some striking career for her, and possibly become a snare 
and a temptation. 

On the other hand, Hal was just a homely, nondescript, 
untidy, riotous type of schoolgirl, with a very strong ca- 
pacity for affection, and an unmanageable predilection for 
scrapes and adventures, that made her more likely to fall 
under the sway of Lorraine, should it promise any chance 
of excitement. 

And one had only to view Lorraine among the other 
young ladies ” of the seminary to fear the worst. Miss 
Emily Walton would never have admitted it; but even 
she, fondly clinging to the old tradition that the terms 
^‘girls’’ or women” are less impressive than young 
ladies,” felt somehow that the orthodox nomenclature did 
not successfully fit her two most remarkable pupils. Of 
course they were ladies by birth and education, else they 
would certainly not have been admitted to so select a 
seminary; but whereas the rest of the pupils might be 
said more or less to study, and improve, and have their 
being in a milk-and-biscuit atmosphere, Hal and Lorraine 
were quite uncomfortably more like champagne and good, 
honest, frothing beer. 

No amount of prunes and prism advice and surround- 
ings seemed to dull the sparkle in Lorraine, nor daunt nor 
suppress fearless, outspoken, unmanageable Hal. In sep- 
arate camps, with a nice little following each, to keep an 
even balance, they might merely have livened the free 
hours ; but as a combination it soon became apparent they 


WINDING PATHS 


3 


would waken up the embryo young ladies quite alarmingly, 
and initiate a new atmosphere of gayety that might become 
beyond the restraining, select influence even of the Misses 
Walton. 

The first scare came with the new French mistress, 
who had a perfect Parisian accent, but knew very little 
English. Of course Lorraine easily divined this, and, being 
something of a French scholar already, she soon won 
Mademoiselle’s confidence by one or two charmingly ex- 
pressed, lucid French explanations. 

Then came the translation lesson, and choosing a fable 
that would specially lend itself, she started the class off 
translating it into an English fabrication that convulsed 
both pupils and mistress. Hal, of course, followed suit, 
and the merriment grew fast and furious after a few 
positively rowdy lessons. 

Mademoiselle herself gave the fun away at the gov- 
ernesses’ dinner, a very precise and formal meal, which 
took place at seven o’clock, to be followed at eight by the 
pupils’ supper of bread and butter with occasional sar- 
dines. She related in broken English what an amusing 
book they had to read, repeating a few slang terms, that 
would certainly not, under any circumstances, have been 
allowed to pass the lips of the young ladies. 

After that it was deemed advisable Lorraine should 
translate French alone, and Hal be severely admonished. 

Then there was the dreadful affair of the Boys’ Col- 
lege. It was not unusual for them to walk past the school 
on Sunday afternoons; but it was only after Lorraine 
came that a system was instituted by which, if the four 
front boys all blew their noses as they passed, it was a 
signal that a note, or possibly several, had been slipped 
under the loose brick at the school entrance. 

Further, it was only Lorraine who could have sent the 
answers, because none of the other girls had an uncle often 
running down for a breath of sea air, when, of course, he 


4 


WINDING PATHS 


needed his dear niece’s company. He was certainly a very 
attentive uncle, and a very generous one, too, judging by 
the Buszard’s cakes and De Brei’s chocolates, and Miss 
Walton could not help eying him a little askance. 

But then, as Miss Emily said, he was such a very strik- 
ing, distinguished-looking gentleman, people had already 
been interested to learn he had a niece at the Misses 
Walton’s seminary. Besides, one could not reasonably 
object to a relative calling, and he had seemed so devoted 
to Lorraine’s handsome mother when they had together 
brought her to school. 

But, of course, after the disgraceful episode of the 
notes that blew into the road, the windows had to be dulled 
at once, so that no one could see the boys pass. It was a 
mercy the thing had been discovered so soon. 

Then shortly after came the breaking-up dances, one 
for the governesses, when the masters from the college 
were invited, and one the next night for the girls, when 
the remains of the same supper did duty again, and with 
reference to which Miss Walton gently told them she had 
not been able to ask any of the boys from the school, as 
she was afraid their parents would not approve ; she hoped 
they were not disappointed, and that the big girls would 
dance with the little ones, as it pleased them so. 

Lorraine immediately replied sweetly that none of 
them cared about dancing with boys, and some of the 
children would be much more amusing. She made her- 
self spokeswoman, because Miss Walton had half uncon- 
sciously glanced at her at the mere mention of the word 
boys, fondly believing that the other well-brought-up 
pupils would prefer their room to their company, whereas 
Lorraine might think the party very tame. Her answer 
was a pleasant surprise. 

But then, who was to know that the night of the gov- 
ernesses’ dance she had bribed the three girls in the small 
dormitory to silence, and after some half dozen of them 


WINDING PATHS 


5 


had gone to bed with their nightgowns over their dresses, 
had given the signal to arise directly the dance was in 
full swing. After that they adjourned to the small dor- 
mitory and spread out a repast of sweets and cakes, to 
which such of the younger masters as were brave enough 
to risk detection slipped away up the school staircase at 
intervals, to be more than rewarded by Lorraine’s inimita- 
ble mimicry. 

There will be no boys for you to dance with, dear 
girls,” she told them gently, as your parents might not 
approve,” then added, with roguish lights in her splendid 
eyes : No boys, dear girls, only a few masters to supper 
in the small dormitory.” 

Hal’s misdemeanors were of a less subtle kind. Neither 
boys nor masters interested her particularly as yet; but 
there were a thousand-and-one other ways of livening 
things up, and she tried them all, sometimes getting off 
scot-free, and sometimes finding herself uncomfortably 
pilloried before the rest of the school, to be cross-ques- 
tioned and severely admonished at great length before 
being sent to Coventry ” for a stated period. 

But, had she only known it, there were many chicken- 
hearted girls who envied her even her disgrace, for the 
sake of the dauntless, shining spirit of her that nothing 
ever crushed. And as for being sent to Coventry,” well, 
Hal and Lorraine easily coped with that through the two- 
penny-worth system. 

If an offender was sent to Coventry, any other girl who 
spoke to her had to pay a fine of twopence, and if either 
of these two gay spirits found themselves doomed to 
silence, they persuaded such of the others as were “ game ” 
enough, to have occasional twopenny worths.” 

Of the two, Hal was far the greater favorite; she was 
in fact the popular idol; for though the girls were full 
of admiration for Lorraine, and not a little proud of her, 
they were also a little afraid of a wit that could be sharp- 


6 


WINDI^^G PATHS 


edged, and perhaps resentful, too, of that nameless some- 
thing about her striking personality that made them feel 
their inferiority. 

Hal was quite different, and her unfailing spirits, her 
vigorous championing of the oppressed, or scathing de- 
nunciation of anything sneaky and mean, made them all 
look up to her, and love her, whether she knew or not. 

Even the governesses felt her compelling attraction, 
and would often, by a timely word, save her from the 
consequences of some forgetful moment. At the same 
time, the one who warned Miss Walton against the pos- 
sible ill results of the girPs growing love for Lorraine 
little understood the nature she had to deal with. 

When Hal found herself in the private sanctum, being 
gently admonished concerning a friendship that was 
thought to be growing too strong, she was quick instantly 
to resent the slur on her chum. She had been sent for 
immediately after “^evening preparation,” and having, as 
usual, inked her fingers generously, and rubbed an ink- 
smudge across her face, to say nothing of really disgrace- 
fully tumbled hair, she looked a comical enough object 
standing before the impressive presence of the head mis- 
tress. 

Really, Hal,” Miss Walton remonstrated, can’t yon 
even keep tidy for an hour in the evening ? ” 

Not when it’s German night,” answered outspoken 
Hal; ‘'where to put the verbs, and how to split them, 
makes my hair stand on end, and the ink squirm out of 
the pot.” 

Miss Walton tried to look severe, remarking: “Don’t 
be frivolous here, my dear”; but, as Hal described it later, 
“she looked as if having so often to be sedate was be- 
ginning to make her tired.” 

But when she proceeded to explain to Hal that neither 
she nor her sister were easy in their minds about her grow- 
ing devotion to Lorraine, Hal’s expressive mouth began to 


WINDING PATHS 


7 


look rather stern, and neither the ink-smudges nor the 
tousled hair could rob her of a certain naive dignity as she 
asked, ^^Are you implying anything against Lorraine?” 

"^No, no, my dear, certainly not,” Miss Walton re- 
plied, feeling slightly at a loss to express herself, but I 
have never encouraged a violent friendship between two 
girls that is apt to make them hold aloof from the others, 
and be continually in one another’s society. And in this 
instance, Lorraine being so much older than you, and of a 
temperament hardly likely to appeal to your brother, as a 
desirable one in your great friend ” 

I am not asking Dudley to make her his great 
friend ” 

Don’t interrupt me, dear. I am only speaking of 
what I am perfectly aware are your brother’s feelings con- 
cerning you; and seeing you have neither father nor 
mother, I feel my responsibility and his the greater.” 

‘^But what is the matter with LorrrJhe?” Hal cried, 
growing a little exasperated. She is not nearly so 
frivolous as I am, and works far harder.” 

Miss Walton hesitated a little. We feel she is 
naturally rather worldly-minded and ambitious, whereas 
you — ” She paused. 

Whereas I am a simpleton,” suggested Hal, with a 
mischievous light in her eyes. ^^Well, then, dear Miss 
Walton, how fortunate for me that some one clever and 
brilliant is willing to give me her friendship and help to 
lift me out of my slough of simpletondom ! ” 

Miss Walton looked up with a reproof on her lips, but 
it died away, and a new expression came into her eyes as 
she seemed to see something in this unruly pupil she had 
not before suspected. Hal still looked as if a smothered 
sense of injustice might presently explode into hot words; 
but in the meantime the air of dignity stood its ground in 
spite of smudges and untidiness. 

Neither spoke for a moment, and then Miss Walton 


8 


WINDING PATHS 


remarked : You do not mean to be guided by me in 

this matter?” 

Lorraine is my friend,” Hal answered. " I cannot 
let myself listen to anything that suggests a slur upon 
her.” 

Not even if your brother expressed a wish on the 
subject ? ” 

do not ask Dudley to let me choose his friends.” 

That is quite a different matter. He is fifteen years 
your senior.” 

Hal was silent. She stood with her hands behind her, 
and her head held high, and her clear eyes very straight 
to the front; well knit, well built, with a promise of that 
vague something which is so much stronger a factor in the 
world than mere beauty. 

Miss Walton, who necessarily saw much of the medi- 
ocre and commonplace in her life work of turning grow- 
ing girls into presentable young women, felt her feelings 
undergo a further change. She also had the tact to see 
an appeal would go farther than mere advice. 

I was only thinking of you, Hal,” she said, a trifle 
tiredly. I have nothing against Lorraine, except that 
she is dangerously attractive if she likes, and her love of 
admiration and excitement does not make her a very wise 
friend for a girl of your age. You are different, and your 
paths are likely to lead far apart in the future. It did 
not seem to me desirable you should grow too fond of 
each other.” 

Even as she spoke she found herself wondering what 
Hal would say, and in an unlooked-for way interested. 

Hal answered promptly: 

I do not think our lives will lie apart. Both of us 
will have to be breadwinners at any rate, and that will be 
a bond.” 

Her mobile face seemed to change. Miss Walton, 
I’m devoted to Lorraine. I always shall be. But you 


WINDING PATHS 


9 


needn’t be anxious. The stronger influence is not where 
you think. I can bend Lorraine’s will, but she cannot 
bend mine. It will always be so. And nothing that you 
nor anyone can say will make me change to her.” 

They said little more, but when she was alone the head 
mistress stood silently for some minutes looking into the 
the dying embers of her fire. Then she uttered to herself 
an enigmatical sentence: 

Beauty will give to Lorraine the great career; but 
the greater woman will be Hal.” 

Shortly after that Lorraine departed, and about a year 
later embarked in the theatrical world. 

No one was surprised, but very diverse opinions were 
expressed among the girls concerning her success or other- 
wise; those who were jealous, or who had felt slighted 
during her short reign as school beauty, condemning any 
possible likelihood of a hit. 

Hal said very little. She was already reaching out 
tentacles to the wider world, where schoolgirl criticisms 
would be mere prattle; and it was far more serious to her 
to wonder what Brother Dudley would think of her having 
an actress for her greatest friend. 

She foresaw rocks ahead, but smiled humorously to 
herself in spite of them. 

What a tussle there’ll be ! ” was her thought, “ and 
how in the world am I to convince Dudley that Lorraine 
does not represent a receptacle for all the deadly sins? 
Heigho ! The mere fact of my disagreeing will persuade 
him I am already contaminated, and he will see us both 
heading, like fire engines, for the nethermost hell.” 


CHAPTER II 


If Dudley Pritchard^s imagination did not actually pic- 
ture the lurid and violent descent Hal suggested, it cer- 
tainly did view with the utmost alarm his lively young 
sister’s friendship with a fully fledged actress. 

As a matter of fact. Miss Walton’s prognostications 
concerning his attitude to Lorraine Vivian, even as a 
schoolgirl, had been instantly confirmed upon their first 
meeting. 

For no particular reason be disapproved of her. That 
was rather typical of Dudley. He disapproved of a good 
many things without quite knowing why, or being at any 
particular pains to find out. 

Not that it made him bigoted. He could in fact be 
fairly tolerant; but as Hal affectionately observed, Dudley 
was so apt to pat himself on the back for his toleration 
toward things that it would never have occurred to most 
persons needed tolerating. 

She new perfectly well that he considered himself 
very tolerant toward much that was to be deprecated in 
her, but, far from resenting his attitude, she saw chiefly 
the humorous side, and managed to glean a good deal of 
quiet amusement from it. 

Considering the fifteen years’ difference in their ages, 
and the fact that Dudley was a hard-working architect 
in London, seeing life on all sides, while Hal was still a 
hoydenish schoolgirl, it was really remarkable how thor- 
oughly she grasped and understood his character, and a 
great deal concerning the world in general, while he 

10 


WIOTIXG PATHS 11 

seemed to remain at his first decisions concerning her 
and most things. 

It was just perhaps the difference between the book- 
student and the life-student. Dudley had always had 
a passion for books and for his profession. His clever 
brain was a well of knowledge concerning ancient archi- 
tectures and relics of antiquity. He studied them because 
he loved them, and, before all things else, to him they 
seemed worth while. 

He loved his sister also — he loved her better than any- 
one, but it would never have occurred to him that she 
should be studied, or that there was anything in her to 
study. To him she was quite an ordinary girl, rather 
nice looking when she was neat, but with a most unfor- 
tunate lack of the sedate dignity and discretion that he 
considered essential to the typically admirable woman. 

That there might be other traits in their place, equally 
admirable, did not occur to him. They were not at any 
rate the traits he most admired. 

Hal, on the other hand, was different in every respect. 
She loathed books, and learning, and what she called 
dead old bones and rubbish.” But she loved human 
nature, and studied it in every phase she could. 

Left at a very tender age to Dudley’s sole care and 
protection, she had to grow up without the enfolding, 
sympathetic love of a mother, or the gay companionship 
of brothers and sisters. Not in the least depressed, she 
started off at an early age in quest of adventure to see 
what the world was like outside the four walls of their 
home. 

Brought back, sometimes by a policeman, with whom 
she had already become on the friendliest terms, sometimes 
in a cab in which some one else had placed her, sometimes 
by a kindly stranger, she would yet slip away again on the 
first opportunity, into the crush of mankind. Punish- 
ment and expostulation were alike useless; Hal was just 
2 


12 


WINDING PATHS 


as fascinated with people as Dudley was with books, and 
where her nature called she fearlessly followed. 

Through this roving trait she picked up an amount 
of commonplace, everyday knowledge that would have 
dumfounded the clever young architect, had he been in 
the least able to comprehend it. But while he dipped 
enthusiastically into bygone ages, and won letters and 
honors in his profession, she asked questions about life 
in the present, and grappled with the problem of everyday 
existence and the peculiarities of human nature, in a way 
that made her largely his superior, despite his letters and 
honors. 

And best of all was her complete understanding of 
him. Dudley fondly imagined he was fulfilling to the best 
possible endeavors his obligations of love and guardian- 
ship to his young sister. The young sister, with her ten- 
der, quizzical understanding, regarded him as a mere child, 
with a deliciously humorous way of always taking himself 
very seriously; a brilliant brain, an irritating fund of 
superiority, and something altogether apart that made 
him dearer than heaven and earth and all things therein 
to her. 

Hal might be dearer than all else to Dudley, without 
finding herself loved in any way out of the ordinary, seeing 
how little he cared much about except his profession; 
but to be the beloved of all, to an eager, passionate, intense 
nature like hers, meant that in her heart she had placed 
him upon a pedestal, and, while fondly having her little 
smile over his shortcomings, yet loved him with an all- 
embracing love. He did not suspect it, and he would not 
have understood it if he had; being rather of the opinion 
that, considering all he had tried to be to her, she might 
have loved him enough in return to make a greater effort 
to please him. 

Her obdurate resistance during the first stage of his 
disapproval of Lorraine Vivian increased this feeling con- 


WINDING PATHS 


13 


siderably. He felt that if she really cared for him she 
should be willing to be guided by his judgment; and while 
perceiving, just as Miss Walton had done, that she meant to 
have her own way, he had less perspicacity to perceive 
also that nameless trait which, for want of a better word, 
we sometimes call grit, and which dimly proclaimed she 
might be trusted to follow her own strength of character. 

When, later, it came to the question of Lorraine’s 
theatrical career, his attitude of displeasure increased a 
thousandfold. 

He was not told of it just at first. Hal was then in the 
throes of convincing him that her particular talents lay 
in the direction' of secretarial work and journalism, rather 
than governessing or idleness, and persuading him to 
make arrangements at once for her to learn shorthand and 
typewriting with a view to becoming the private sec- 
retary of a well-known editor of one of the leading news- 
papers. 

The editor in question was a distant connection, and 
quite willing to take her if she proved herself capable, 
recognizing, through his skill at reading character, that she 
might eventually prove invaluable in other ways than 
mere letter-writing. 

Dudley, seeing no farther than the fact of the city 
office, set his face resolutely against it as long as he could ; 
but, of course, in the end Hal carried the day. Then came 
the shock of the knowledge that Lorraine had gone on 
the stage; and if, as has been said before, he did not 
actually picture the lurid exit to the lower regions Hal 
gave him credit for, he was sufficiently upset to have wake- 
ful nights and many anxious, worried hours. 

And to make it worse, Hal would not even be serious. 

Oh, don’t look like that, Dudley ! ” she cried ; we 
really are not in any immediate danger of selling our souls 
to the Prince of Darkness. You dear old solemnsides! 
Just because Lorraine is going on the stage, I believe you 


14 


WINDING PATHS 


already see me in spangles, jumping through a hoop. Or 
rather ^ trying to/ because it is a dead cert. I should miss 
the hoop, and do a sort of double somersault over the 
horse’s tail.” 

Dudley shut his firm lips a little more tightly, and 
looked hard at his boots, without vouchsafing a reply. 

As a matter of fact,” continued the incorrigible, 
you ought to perceive how beautifully life balances 
things, by giving a dangerously attractive person like Lor- 
raine a matter-of-fact, commonplace pal like myself to 
restrain her, and at the same time ward off possible dan- 
gers from various unoffending humans, who might fall 
hurtfully under her spell.” 

" It is only the danger to you that I have anytlnng 
to do with.” 

Oh, fie, Dudley ! as if I mattered half as much as 
Humanity with a capital H.” 

To me, personally, you matter far more in this 
particular case.” 

‘^And yet, really, the chief danger to me is that I 
might unconsciously catch some reflection of Lorraine’s 
charm and become dangerously attractive myself, instead 
of just an outspoken hobbledehoy no one takes seriously.” 

I am not afraid of that,” he said, evoking a peal of 
laughter of which he could not even see the point ; but 
since you are quite determined to go into the city as a 
secretary, instead of procuring a nice comfortable home 
as a companion, or staying quietly here to improve your 
mind, I naturally feel you will encounter quite enough 
dangers without getting mixed up in a theatrical set. 
Though, really,” in a grumbling voice, I can’t see why 
you don’t stay at home like any sensible girl. If I am 
not rich, I have at least enough for two.” 

“ But if I stayed at home, and lived on you, Dudley, 
I should feel I had to improve my mind by way of making 
you some return; and you can’t think how dreadfully my 


WINDI^^G PATHS 


15 


mind hates the idea of being improved. And if I went to 
some dear old lady as companion, she would be sure to die 
in an apoplectic fit in a month, and I should be charged 
with manslaughter. And I can’t teach, because I don’t 
know anything. The only serious danger I shall run as 
Mr. Elliott’s secretary will be putting an occasional addi- 
tion of my own to his letters, in a fit of exasperation, or 
driving his subeditor mad; and he seems wdlling to risk 
that.” 

^‘You are likely to run greater dangers than that if 
you allow yourself to be drawn into a theatrical circle.” 

"What sort of dangers? . . . Oh, my dear, saintly 
episcopal architect, what foundations of darkness are you 
building upon now, out of a little old-fashioned, out-of- 
date prejudice which you might have dug up from some 
of your studies in antiquity books? There are Just as 
many dangers outside the theatrical world as in it, for the 
sort of woman dangers are attractive to; and little Sun- 
day-school teachers have come to grief, while famous ac- 
tresses have won through unscathed.” 

Dudley’s face expressed both surprise and distaste. 

" I wonder what you know about it anyway. I think 
you are talking at random. Certainly no dangers would 
come near you if you listened to my wishes and settled 
down quietly at home. If you don’t care about living in 
Bloomsbury, I will take a small house in the suburbs, and 
you can amuse yourself with the housekeeping, and tennis, 
and that sort of thing.” 

"And when you want to marry?” 

" I shall not want to marry. I am wedded to my 
profession.” 

" 0 Dudley ! . . . Dudley ! . . . ” She slipped off the 
table where she had been Jauntily seated, and came and 
stood beside him, passing her arm through his. " Can’t 
you see I’d Just die of a little house in the suburbs, look- 
ing after the housekeeping: it’s the most dreadful and 


16 


WINDING PATHS 


awful thing on the face of the earth. I^m not a bit sorry 
for slaves, and prisoners, and shipwrecked sailors, and 
East-end starvelings; every bit of sympathy INe got is 
used up for the girls who’ve got to stay in humdrum 
homes, and be nothing, and do nothing, but just finished 
young ladies. Work is the finest thing in the world. IPs 
just splendid to have something real to do, and be paid for 
it. Why, they can’t even go to prison, or be hungry, or 
anything except possible wives for possible men who may 
or may not happen to want them.” 

Of course you are talking arrant nonsense,” Dudley 
replied frigidly. I don’t know where in the world you 
get all your queer ideas. Woman’s sphere is most de- 
cidedly the home; you seem to — ” but a small hand was 
clapped vigorously over his mouth, and eyes of feigned 
horror searching his. 

Do you know, I’m half afraid you’ve lived in your 
musty old books so long, Dudley,” with mock seriousness, 
^^that you’ve lost all count of time. It is about a thou- 
sand years since sane and sensible men believed all that 
drivel about women’s only sphere being the home, and 
since women were content to be mere chattels, stuck in 
with the rest of the furniture, to look after the children. 
Nowadays the jolly, sensible woman that a man likes for 
wife or pal, is very often a busy worker.” 

Let her work busily at home, then ! ” 

Why, you’ll want me to crochet antimacassars next, 
or cross-stitch a sampler! Just imagine the thing if I 
tried 1 It would have dreadful results, because I should be 
sure to use bad language — I couldn’t help it; and the 
article I should concoct would make people faint, or turn 
cross-eyed or color-blind. I shan’t do nearly so much 
harm in the end as a city secretary with an actress pal.” 

One thing is quite certain : you mean, as usual, to 
have your own way, and my feelings go for nothing at 
all.” 


WINDING PATHS 


17 


He turned away from her, and took up his hat to go 

out. 

" Your protestations of affection, Hal, are apt to seem 
both insincere and out of place.” 

The tears came swiftly to her eyes, and she took a quick 
step toward him, but he had gone, and closed the door 
after him before she could speak. She watched his re- 
treating figure, with the tears still lingering, and then 
suddenly she smiled. 

‘‘^Anyhow, I haven’t got to he sweet and gentle and 
housekeepy,” was her comforting refiection. I’m going 
to be a real worker, earning real money, and have Lor- 
raine for my pal as well. Some day Dudley will see it is 
all right, and I’m only about half as black as he supposes, 
and that I love him better than anything else at heart. 
In the meantime, as I’m likely to get a biggish dose of 
dignified disapproval over this theater business, I’d better 
ask Dick to come out to tea this afternoon to buck me up 
for what lies ahead. Goodness ! what a boon a jolly cousin 
is when you happen to have been mated with your great- 
aunt for a brother.” 


CHAPTER III 


For a few years after that particular disagreement 
nothing of special note happened. Hal got quickly through 
her course of shorthand and typewriting, and became 
Mr. Elliott’s private secretary and general factotum, 
which last included an occasional flight into journalism 
as a reporter. Naturally, since this sometimes took 
her to out-of-the-way places, and brought her in con- 
tact with human oddities, she loved it beyond all things, 
and was ever ready for a jaunt, no matter whither it 
took her. 

Brother Dudley was discreetly left a little in the dark 
about it, because nothing in the world would ever have 
persuaded him that a girl of Hal’s age could run promis- 
cuously about London unmolested. Hal knew better. She 
was perfectly well able to acquire a stony stare that baf- 
fled the most dauntless of impertinent intruders; and 
she had, moreover, an upright, grenadierlike carriage, and 
an air of businesslike energy that were safeguards in 
themselves. 

A great deal of persuasive tact was necessary, however, 
to win Dudley’s consent to a year in America, whither 
Mr. Elliott had to go on business; but on Mrs. Elliott 
calling upon him herself to explain that she also was 
going, and would take care of Hal, he reluctantly con- 
sented. 

Curiously enough, it was that year in a great meas- 
ure that changed the current of Lorraine’s life. She 
came to the crossroads, and took the wrong turn. 

18 


WINDING PATHS 


19 


Perhaps Miss Walton, with her knowledge of girls, 
could have foretold it. She might have said, in that 
enigmatical way of hers, ‘‘ If Lorraine comes to the cross- 
roads, where life offers a short cut to fame, instead of a 
long, wearisome drudgery, she will probably take it. Hal 
will score off' her own bat, or not at all. Lorraine will 
only care about gaining her end.’’ 

Anyhow the crossroads came, and Hal, the stronger, 
was not there. As a matter of fact, for some little time 
the two had not seen much of each other. Lorraine was 
touring in the provinces, and rarely had time to come to 
London. Hal was tied by her work, and could not spare 
the time to go to Lorraine. 

There was for a little while a cessation of intercourse. 
Neither was the least bit less fond, but circumstances 
kept them apart, and they could only wait until opportu- 
nity brought them together again. Both were too busy 
for lengthy correspondence, and only wrote short letters 
occasionally, just to assure each other the friendship held 
firm, and absence made no real difference. 

Then Hal went off to America, and while she was 
away Lorraine came to her crossroads. 

It is hardly necessary to review in detail what her life 
had been since she joined the theatrical profession. It is 
mostly hard work and disillusion and disappointment for 
all in the beginning, and only a very small percentage 
ever win through to the forefront. 

But for Lorraine, on the top of all the rest, was a mer- 
cenary, unscrupulous, intriguing mother, who added ten- 
fold to what must inevitably have been a heavy burden 
and strain — a mother who taxed her utmost powers of en- 
durance, and brought her shame as well as endless worry ; 
and yet to whom, let it be noted down now, to her everlast- 
ing credit, no matter in what other way she may have 
erred, she never turned a deaf ear nor treated with the 
smallest unkindness. 


20 


WINDING PATHS 


It would be impossible to gauge just what Lorraine 
had to go through in her first few years on the stage. She 
seemed to make no headway at all, and at the end of the 
third year she felt herself as far as ever from getting her 
chance. 

That she was brilliantly clever and brilliantly attrac- 
tive had not so far weighed the balance to her side. There 
were many others also clever and attractive. She felt she 
had practically everything except the one thing needed 
— influence. 

Thus her spirits were at a very low ebb. She was 
still touring the provinces, and heartily sick of all the 
discomfort involved. Dingy lodgings, hurried train jour- 
neys, much bickering and jealousy in the company with 
which she was acting, and a great deal of domestic worry 
over that handsome, extravagant mother, who had once 
taken her, in company with the so-called uncle, to the select 
seminary of the Misses Walton. 

How her mother managed to live and dress as if she 
were rich had puzzled Lorraine many times in those 
days; but when she left the shelter of those narrow, re- 
stricting walls, where windows were whitewashed so that 
even boys might not be seen passing by, she learned many 
things all too quickly. 

She learned something about the uncles, too. One of 
them was at great pains to try and teach her, but with 
hideous shapes and suggestions trying to crowd her mind, 
the thought of Hal’s freshness still acted as a sort of 
protection and kept her untainted. 

A little later, after she had commenced to earn a 
salary, she found that directly the family purse was empty, 
and creditors objectionably insistent, she herself had to 
come to the rescue. 

There were some miserable days then. It was useless 
to upbraid her mother. She always posed as the injured 
one, and could not see that in robbing her child of a real 


WINDING PATHS 


21 


home she was strewing her path with dangers as well, by 
placing her in an ambiguous, comfortless position, from 
which any relief seemed worth while. 

Then at last came the welcome news that Mrs. Vivian 
had procured a post as lady-housekeeper to a rich stock- 
broker in Kensington, who had also a large interest in a 
West-end theater. 

Lorraine read the glowing terms in which her mother 
described her new home and employer with a deep sense 
of relief, seeing in the new venture a probable escape for 
herself from those relentless demands upon her own scanty 
purse. A month later came the paragraph, in a volu- 
minous epistle: 

Mr. Eaynor says you are to make his house your 
home whenever you are free. He insists upon giving you 
a floor all to yourself, like a little flat, where you can 
receive your friends undisturbed, and feel you have a little 
home of your own. I am quite certain also that he will 
try to help you in your career through his interest in the 
Greenway Theater.” 

If Lorraine wondered at all concerning this unknown 
man’s interest in her welfare she kept it to herself. 

A home instead of the dingy lodgings she had grown 
to hate, and the prospect of influential help, were suf- 
ficiently alluring to drown all other reflections. 

When the tour was over she went direct to Kensington, 
to make her home with her mother until her next en- 
gagement. She was already too much a woman of the 
world not to notice at once that her mother and her host’s 
relations seemed scarcely those of employee and employer, 
and there was a little passage of arms between herself and 
Mrs. Vivian the next morning. 

In reply to a long harangue, in which that lady set 
forth the advantages Lorraine was to gain from her moth- 
er’s perspicacity in obtaining such a post, she asked rather 
shortly : 


22 


WINDING PATHS 


And why in the world should Mr. Eaynor do all this 
for me, simply because you are his housekeeper ? 

A red spot burned in Mrs. Vivian’s cheek as she re- 
plied : 

He does it because he wants me to stay ; and I have 
told him I cannot do so unless he makes it possible for me 
to give you a comfortable, happy home here.^’ 

Lorraine’s lips curled with a scorn she did not attempt 
to conceal, but she only stood silently gazing across the 
park. 

She had already decided to make the best of her moth- 
er’s deficiencies, seeing she was almost the only relative 
she possessed, but she had a natural loathing of hypocrisy, 
and wished she would leave facts alone instead of attempt- 
ing to gloss them over. Ever since she left school she had 
been obliged to live in lodgings, because her mother would 
not take the trouble to try and provide anything more of a 
home. 

It was a little too much, therefore, that she should 
now allude to her maternal solicitude because it happened 
to suit her purpose. Lorraine felt herself growing hard 
and callous and bitter under the strain of the early strug- 
gle to succeed, handicapped as she was ; and because of one 
or two ugly experiences that came in the path of such a 
warfare. She was losing heart also, and feeling bitterly 
the stinging whip of circumstances. As she stood gazing 
across the park, some girls about her own age rode past, 
returning from their morning gallop, talking and laugh- 
ing gayly together. 

Lorraine found herself wondering what life would be 
like with her beauty and talent if there were no vulgarly 
extravagant, unprincipled mother in the background, no 
insistent need to earn money, no gnawing ambition for a 
fame she already began to feel might prove an empty joy. 

She had not seen Hal for a year, and she felt an ache 
for her. In the shifting, unreliable, soul-numbing atmos- 


WINDING PATHS 


23 


phere of her stage career, she still looked upon Hal as 
a City of Eefuge ; and when she had not seen her for some 
time she felt herself drifting toward unknown shoals 
and quicksands. 

And, unfortunately, Hal was away in America, with 
the editor to whom she was secretary and typist, and not 
very likely to be back for three months. 

No; there was nothing for it but to make the best of 
her mother’s explanation and the comfortable home at 
her feet. 

As for Mr. Eaynor himself, though he seemed to Lor- 
raine vulgarly proud of his self-made position, vulgarly 
ostentatious of his wealth, and vulgarly familiar with 
both herself and her mother, she could not actually lay 
any offense to his charge. And in any case, he undoubtedly 
could help her, if he chose, to procure at last the coveted 
part in a London theater. With this end in view, she laid 
herself out to please him and to make the most of her 
opportunity. 

And in this way she came to those crossroads which 
had to decide her future. 

Before she had been a week in the house, Frank Eaynor 
deserted his housekeeper altogether, and fell in love with 
the housekeeper’s daughter. Within a fortnight he had 
laid all his possessions at Lorraine’s feet, promising her 
not only wealth and devotion, but the brilliant career 
she so coveted. 

The man was generous, but he was no saint. Give 
him herself, and she should have the world at her feet if 
he could bring it there. Give any less, and he would have 
no more to say to her whatsoever. 

It was the crossroads. 

Lorraine struggled manfully for a month. She hated 
the idea of marrying a man far better suited in every 
way to her mother. She dreaded and hated the thought 
of what had perhaps been between them; yet she was 


24 


WINDING PATHS 


afraid to ask any question that might corroborate her 
worst fears. All that was best in her of delicate and re- 
fined sensitiveness surged upward, and she longed to run 
away to some remote island far removed from the harsh 
realities of life. 

Yet, how could she? Without money, without in- 
fluence, without rich friends, what did the world at large 
hold for her? 

How much easier to go with the tide — seize her oppor- 
tunity — and dare Fate to do her worst. 

At the last there was a bitter scene between mother 
and daughter. 

If you refuse Frank Raynor now, you ruin the two 
of us,” was Mrs. Vivian’s angry indictment. What can 
we expect from him any more? How are you ever going 
to get another such chance to make a hit ? ” 

‘^And what if it ruins my life to marry him?” Lor- 
raine asked. 

Such nonsense ! The man can give you everything. 
What in the world more do you want ? He is good enough 
looking; he could pass as a gentleman, and he is rich.” 

A sudden nauseous spasm at all the ugliness of life 
shook Lorraine. She turned on her mother swiftly, 
scarcely knowing what she said, and asked: 

You are anxious enough to sell me to him. What is 
he to you anyway ? What has he ever been to you ? ” 

Mrs. Vivian blanched before the suddenness of the at- 
tack, but she held her ground. 

“ You absurd child, what in the world could he be to 
me? It is easy enough to see he has no eyes for anyone 
but you.” 

^^And before I came?” 

Lorraine took a step forward, and for a moment the 
two women faced each other squarely. The eyes of each 
were a little hard, the expressions a little flinty; but be- 
hind the older woman’s was a scornful, unscrupulous in- 


WINDING PATHS 


25 


difference to any moral aspect; behind the younger’s a 
hunted, rather pitiful hopelessness. The ugly things of 
life had caught the one in their talons and held her 
there for good and all, more or less a willing slave; the 
soul of the younger was still alive, still conscious, still 
capable of distinguishing the good and desiring it. 

The mother turned away at last with a little harsh 
laugh. 

‘‘ Before you came he was nothing to me. He never 
has been anything.” 

Without waiting for Lorraine to speak, she turned 
again, and added: 

“ If you weren’t a fool, you would perceive he is treat- 
ing you better than ninety-nine men in a hundred. He 
has suggested marriage. The others might not have 
done so.” 

Oh ! I’m not a fool in that way,” came the bitter 
reply, ^^but I’ve wondered once or twice what your at- 
titude would have been, supposing — er — he had been one 
of the ninety-nine ! ” 

Mrs. Vivian was saved replying by the unexpected 
appearance of Frank Raynor himself. Entering the room 
with a quick step, he suddenly stopped short and looked 
from one to the other. Something in their expressions 
told him what had transpired. He turned sharply on the 
mother. 

“ You’ve been speaking to Lorraine about me. I told 
you I wouldn’t have it. I know your bullying ways, and 
I said she was to be left to decide for herself.” 

Lorraine saw an angry retort on her mother’s lips, and 
hurriedly left the room. She put on her hat and slipped 
away into the park. What was she to do ? . . . where, oh, 
where was Hal? 

Within three months the short cut was taken. Lor- 
raine was engaged to play a leading part at the Greenway 
Theater, and she was the wife of Frank Raynor. 


CHAPTER IV 


When^ Hal came back from America and heard about 
Lorraine’s marriage, it was a great shock to her. At first 
she could hardly bring herself to believe it at all. Noth- 
ing thoroughly convinced her until she stood in the pretty 
Kensington house and beheld Mrs. Vivian’s pronounced 
air of triumph, and Lorraine’s somewhat forced attempts 
at joyousness. 

It was one of the few occasions in her life when Lor- 
raine was nervous. She did not want Hal to know the 
sordid facts; and she did not believe she would be able to 
hide them from her. 

When Hal, from a mass of somewhat jerky, contra- 
dictory information, had gleaned that the new leading 
part at the London Theater had been gained through the 
middle-aged bridegroom’s influence, her comment was suf- 
ficiently direct. 

Oh, that’s why you did it, is it ? Well, I only hope 
you don’t hate the sight of him already.” 

^^How absurd you are, Hal! ... Of course I don’t 
hate the sight of him. He’s a dear. He gives me every- 
thing in the world I want, if he possibly can.” 

How dull. It’s much more fun getting a few things 
for oneself. And when the only thing in all the world you 
want is your freedom, do you imagine he’ll give you 
that ? ” 

Lorraine got up suddenly, thrusting her hands out 
before her, as if to ward off some vague fear. 

Hal, you are brutal to-day. What is the use of talk- 
26 


PATHS 


27 


ing like that now ? . . . Why did you go to America ? . . . 

Perhaps if you hadn’t gone 

Give me a cigarette,” said Hal, with a little catch in 
her voice, I want soothing. At the present moment 
you’re a greater strain than Dudley talking down at me 
from a pyramid of worn-out prejudices. I don’t know 
why my two Best-Beloveds should both be cast in a mold 
to weigh so heavily on my shoulders.” 

Sitting on the table as usual, she puffed vigorously at 
her cigarette, blowing clouds of smoke, through which Lor- 
raine could not see that her eyes were dim with tears. For 
Hal’s unerring instinct told her that, at a critical moment, 
Lorraine had taken a wrong path. 

Lorraine, however, was not looking in Hal’s direction. 
She had moved to the window, and stood with her back to 
the room, gazing across the park, hiding likewise misty, 
tell-tale eyes. 

Suddenly, as Hal continued silent, she turned to her 
with a swift movement of half-expressed protest. 

Hal ! you shan’t condemn me, you shan’t even judge 
me. Probably you can’t understand, because your life is 
so different — always has been so different ; but at least you 
can try to be the same. What difference has it made be- 
tween you and me anyhow? . . . What difference need it 
make ? I have got my chance now, and I am going to be 
a brilliant success, instead of a struggling beginner. What 
does the rest matter between you and me?” 

It doesn’t matter between you and me. But it mat- 
ters to you. I feel I’d give my right hand if you hadn’t 
done it.” 

^^How could I help doing it? Oh, I can’t explain; 
it’s no use. We all have to fight our own battles in the 
long run — friends or no friends. Only the friends worth 
having stick to one, even when it has been a nasty, unpleas- 
ant sort of battle.” 

That hard look, with the hopelessness behind it, was 
3 


28 


WINDING PATHS 


coming back into Lorraine’s eyes. She was too loyal to 
tell even Hal what her mother had been like the last few 
months before the critical moment came, and at the critical 
moment itself. She could not explain just how many dif- 
ficulties her marriage had seemed a way out from. 

There had been other men who had not proposed mar- 
riage. There had been insistent creditors — her mother’s 
as well as her own. There had been that deep hunger for 
something approaching a real home, and for a sense of 
security, in a life necessarily full of insecurities. 

Obdurate, difficult theater managers, powerful, jealous 
fellow-actresses, ill health, bad luck ! Behind the glamour 
and the glitter of the stage, what a world of carking care, 
of littleness, meanness, jealousy, and intrigue she had 
found herself called upon to do battle with. 

And now, if only her husband proved amenable, proved 
livable, how different everything would be! But in any 
case Hal must be there. Somehow nothing at least must 
ever estrange her. Something of all this showed in her 
face as she fronted the smoker, still blowing clouds of 
smoke before her eyes. 

What has become of Rod ? ” Hal asked suddenly. 

Lorraine winced a little, but held her ground steadily. 

Rod had to go. What could Rod and I have done 
with £500 a year ? ” 

My own ” — from the blunt-speaking one — it surely 
seems as if you might have thought of that before you 
allowed Rod to run all over the country after you, and get 
^ gated,’ and very nearly ^ sent down,’ and spend a year 
or two’s income ahead in trying to give you pleasure.” 

Lorraine flung herself down on the sofa with a callous 
air, and beat her foot on the ground impatiently. 
The parting with Rod was another thing she did not 
propose to describe to Hal. It had hurt too badly, for 
one thing. 

When you moralize, Hal, you are detestable. Besides, 


WINDING PATHS 


29 


it’s so cheap. Anyone can sit ^ a table and hurl sarcasm 
about. I dare say in my place you would have married 
Rod, from a sense of duty or something, and ruined all the 
rest of his life. Or perhaps, after gently breaking the 
news, you’d have let him come dangling round to be 
^mothered.’ Well, I don’t say I haven’t been a bit of a 
brute to him; but anyhow I tried to do the square thing 
in the end. I cut the whole affair dead off. I told him 
I would not see him nor write to him again. I’ve since 
sent two letters back unopened, and though you mightn’t 
think it, I was just eating my heart out for a sight of 
him. But what’s the good ! He’s got to follow in the foot- 
steps of whole centuries of highly respectable, complacent, 
fat old bankers. His father and mother would have 
a fit if he didn’t develop into the traditional fat old 
banker himself, and beget another of the same ilk to 
follow on. 

I dare say with me he would have developed a little 
more soul, and a little less stomach — but what of it ? ” 
with a graceful shrug. For the good of his country it is 
written that he shall acquire weight and stolidity, instead 
of an ideal soul, and for the benefit of posterity I sentenced 
him to speedy rotundity, and dull respectability, and the 
begetting of future bankers. He will presently marry some 
one named Alice or Annie, and invite me to the first 
christening in a spirit of Christian forgiveness.” 

Hal smiled more soberly than was her wont. 

And what of you ? ” 

^^What of me? . . . Oh, I don’t come into that sort 
of scheme. I never ought to have been there at all. Still, 
I’m glad I showed him he’d got something in himself 
besides the stale accumulations of many banker ancestors; 
if it’s only for the sake of the next little banker, who may 
want to lay claim to an individual soul.” 

^^But it hurt, Lorraine? . . . Don’t tell me it didn’t 
hurt after . . . after 


30 


WINDING PATHS 


Oh, yes, it hurt,” with a low, bitter laugh; '' but what 
of that either? It’s generally the woman who gets hurt; 
but I suppose I knew I was riding for a fall.” 

^^I don’t suppose you are any more hurt than he is. 
You know he worshiped you.” 

^^Yes; only presently it will be easy for him to get 
back into the old, orthodox groove with ^ Alice,’ and per- 
suade himself that I was only a youthful infatuation, 
whereas I — Oh, what does it matter, Hal? Come out 
of that ^great-aunt’ mood, and let’s he jolly while we can. 
I’ll ring for coffee and liqueurs, and then we’ll make lots 
of ripping plans to see everything in England worth seeing 
— until I can find time to go abroad.” 

Hal sprang off her table. 

Oh, very well,” she rejoined. Let’s get rowdy and 
sing the song ^ Love may go hang.’ When I’ve got it over 
with Dudley, we’ll just go straight on, keeping a good 
lookout for the next fence. You’d better tell me some- 
thing about this paternal husband of yours, just to prepare 
me for our meeting. He doesn’t put his knife in his 
mouth, and that sort of thing, does he ? ” 

No ; not quite so bad. His worst offense at present, 
I think, is to call me ^ wifey.’ ” 

Wifey ! ” in accents of horror. Lorraine, how 
awful ! ” 

‘^Yes; but I’m breaking him of it by degrees: that 
and his fondness for a soft felt hat.” 

They sat on chatting together with apparent gayness, 
but Hal’s heart was no lighter after she had duly been 
presented to the paternal husband, as she called him, and 
she journeyed solemnly home on a bus, feeling rather as 
if she had been to a funeral. She tried at first to hide her 
feelings from Dudley — no difficult matter at all, since he 
usually contributed little but a slightly absent yes ” and 
^^no” to the conversation, and if the conversation lan- 
guished he took small notice. 


WINDING PATHS 


31 


However, he had to be told, and Hal rarely troubled 
to do much beating about the bush, so, in order to rouse 
him speedily and thoroughly, just as he was settling down 
to his newspaper she hurled the news at his head without 
any preliminary preparation. 

What do you think Lorraine has done now ? Been 
and gone and married a man old enough to be her father ! ” 

Married ! . . . Lorraine Vivian married ! ” 

Dudley’s newspaper went down suddenly on to his knee. 
Hal had squatted on the hearth rug, tailor fashion, 
before the fire, and she gave a little swaying movement 
backward and forward, to signify the affirmative. He 
looked at her a moment as . if to make sure she was not 
joking, and then said, with sarcastic lips: 

man old enough to be her father? . . . Then it 
isn’t even Eod Burrell ! ” 

^^No; it isn’t even Eod Burrell.” 

Some one with more money and influence, I suppose ? 
Well, I don’t know that Burrell needs anyone’s condo- 
lences.” 

‘^He does, badly.” 

He won’t for long. The Burrells are a sensible lot, 
and no sensible man frets over a heartless woman.” 

Lorraine is not a heartless woman. She has too much 
heart.” 

She is certainly very generous with it.” 

I don’t know which is the more detestable, a sarcastic 
man or a sensible one.” Hal shut her lips tightly, and 
stared at the fire. 

I imagine you hardly expect any sort of man to ad- 
mire Miss Vivian’s action.” 

It doesn’t matter in the least what ^ any sort of man ’ 
thinks. I am only concerned with the possibility that she 
will weary of matrimony quickly and be miserable. I told 
you, because I wanted you to hear it from me instead of 
from a newspaper.” 


32 


WINDING PATHS 


Dudley suddenly grew more serious, as he realized how 
it must in a measure affect Hal also. 

‘^Who is he?” 

He is a stockbroker, named Frank Eaynor, aged 
fifty.” 

And of course she married him for his money ? ” 

I suppose so. Also he partly owns the Greenway 
Theater.” 

Pshaw . . . iPs a mere bargain.” 

Hal was silent. She had rested her chin on her hands, 
and was now gazing steadily at the embers. 

Of course if he is not a gentleman, you will have to 
leave off seeing so much of her.” 

Not at all. She would need me all the more.” 

That is quite possible,” dryly ; but you owe some- 
thing to yourself and me.” 

I couldn’t owe failing a friend to anyone. But he 
is a gentleman almost — a self-made one, and he doesn’t let 
you forget it.” 

Then you’ve seen him ? ” 

Yes, to-day.” Her lips suddenly twitched with irre- 
sistible humor. He called me ^ Hal ’ and Lorraine 
^wife3^’ We bore it bravely.” 

^^What business had he to call you by your Christian 
name? ” 

None. I suppose he just felt like it. He also alluded 
to my new hat as a bonnet. Also he used to be an office 
boy or something. He seemed inordinately proud of it.” 

I loathe a self-made man who is always cramming it 
down one’s throat. I don’t see how you can have much in 
common with either of them any more.” 

Hal got up, as if she did not want to pursue the subject. 

It won’t make the smallest difference to Lorraine and 
me,” she said. 

Dudley knit his forehead in vexation and perplexity, 
remarking : 


WINDING PATHS 


33 


Of course you mean to be obstinate about it.” 

^^No/’ with a little laugh; only firm.” 

She came round to his chair and leaned over the back 
of it. 

Dear old long-face, don’t look so worried. None of 
the dreadful things have happened yet that you expected 
to come of my friendship with Lorraine. The nearest ap- 
proach to them was the celebrated young author I inter- 
viewed, who asked me to go to Paris with him for a fort- 
night, and he was a clergyman’s son who hadn’t even heard 
of Lorraine. Next, I think, was the old gentleman who 
offered to take me to the White City. I don’t seem much 
the worse for either encounter, do I ? and it’s silly to meet 
trouble halfway.” 

She bent her head and kissed him on the forehead. 
Dudley,” she finished mischievously, what are you 
going to give Lorraine for a wedding present ? ” 

I might buy her the book, ^ How to be Happy though 
Married,’ ” he said dryly, or write her a new one and 
call it ^ Words of Warning for Wifey.’ ” 

We’ll give her something together,” Hal exclaimed 
triumphantly, knowing that, as usual, she had won the day. 

Then she went off to bed, feigning a light-heartedness 
she was far from feeling, and dreading, with vague mis- 
givings, what the future might bring forth. 


CHAPTER V 


It was a little over two years later that the crash came. 
There was first a commonplace, sordid tale of bicker- 
ing and quarreling, with passionate jealousy on the part 
of the middle-aged husband, and callous, maddening in- 
difference on the part of the now successful and brilliant 
actress. 

To do Lorraine justice, she was not actively at fault. 
Her sense of fair play made her try sincerely to make the 
best of what had all along been an inevitable fiasco. She 
did not sin in deed against the man to whom she had sold 
herself, but in thought it was hardly possible for her to 
give him anything but tolerance, or to feel much beyond the 
callous indifference she purposely cultivated, to make their 
life together endurable. The things that at first only irri- 
tated her grew almost unbearable afterwards. 

Lorraine’s father had been a gentleman by birth, breed- 
ing, and nature. If she inherited from her mother an 
ambitious, calculating spirit, she also inherited from her 
father refinement, and tone, and a certain fineness of char- 
acter, that showed itself chiefly in unorthodox ways, for 
the simple reason that her life and conditions were entirely 
removed from a conventional atmosphere. 

As a man she might merely have lived a double life, 
conforming to the conventions when advisable, and follow- 
ing her own ambitions and bent in secret, without ever 
apparently stepping over the line. 

As a woman she could but cultivate callous indifference 
to a great deal, and satisfy her soul by playing fair” 

34 


WINDING PATHS 


35 


according to her lights, in the path before her, but nothing 
could save her from a mental nausea of the things in her 
husband which belonged to his plebeian origin and nature, 
and which crossed with a shriveling, searing touch her own 
inherent refinement and high-born spirit. 

The objectionable friends he brought to the house she 
found it easier to bear than the things he said about them 
behind their backs; neither, again, was his addiction to 
drink so trying as his mental coarseness. A man who had 
drank too much could be avoided, but the lowness of Frank 
Eaynor’s mind seemed to follow and drag hers down. 

Yet for two years she held bravely on, cultivating a 
hard spirit, and throwing herself heart and soul into the 
first delicious joy of success. This last surprised even her 
friends and admirers. A moderate hit was quite expected, 
but not a triumph which placed her almost in the first 
rank, and was due not merely to her acting, but to a big- 
ness of spirit and comprehension she had never before had 
an opportunity to reveal. 

It was, indeed, the justification of HaTs devotion. Hal, 
by her very nature, could not love a small-minded woman. 
What she so unceasingly loved and admired in Lorraine 
was a hidden something she alone had had the perspicacity 
to perceive, and could so instinctively rely upon. It was 
the something which, given once a fair opening, carried 
her quickly through minor successes, and placed her on 
that high plane which demands soul as well as skill. 

Then came the dreadful climax. In a drunken, mad 
moment her husband hurled at her that he had been her 
mother’s lover, and proposed to return to his old allegiance 
— had, in fact, already done so. 

Lorraine immediately packed up her own special be- 
longings and left his roof forever. 

Expostulations, promises, threats, passionate assurances 
that he had not been responsible for what he said failed 
alike to move her. She knew that whether responsible or 


36 


WINDING PATHS 


not he had spoken the trnth, and that everything else either 
he or her mother could say was false. 

Finding her obdurate, he swore to ruin them both ; but 
she told him she would sing for bread in the streets before 
she would go back to him; and he knew she meant it. 

Fearing his influence against her and his sworn revenge, 
she went to Italy for a year, and hid in quiet villages until 
his passion should somewhat have died, flnding herself in 
the dreadful position, not only of being betrayed by her 
mother, but quite unable to obtain any sort of freedom 
without revealing the black stain upon her only near 
relation. 

She could not seek a divorce under the terrible circum- 
stances, and she was far too proud and spirited to touch 
a farthing of her husband’s money. It was like a dreadful 
chapter in her life, of which she could only turn down the 
page. 

In the black days and weeks of despair which followed, 
she often felt she must have lost her reason without Hal, 
and even to her she could not tell the actual truth. Hal 
asked once, and then no more. Afterwards it was like a 
secret, unnamed horror between them, from which the 
curtain must not be raised. 

For the rest, there was the usual but intenser scene 
of remonstrance between Dudley and Hal, with the usual 
resentful and obdurate termination. This time Dudley 
even got seriously angry, unable to see anything but a fool- 
ish, unprincipled woman reaping a just reward of her own 
sowing; and for nearly a week his displeasure was such 
that he addressed no single word to Hal if he could help it. 

Hal, for once, was too wretched about everything to 
, resent his attitude, and merely waited for the sun to shine 
again and the black, enveloping clouds to roll away. 

She saw Lorraine every day, in the apartments whither 
she had fled, and helped her to make the necessary arrange- 
ments to cancel the short remainder of an engagement and 


WINDING PATHS 


37 


get away. She even had one interview with the irate hus- 
band, but no one ever knew what took place, except that 
Paynor sought no repetition, and seemed afterwards to 
have a respectful awe of HaFs name which spoke volumes. 

Accustomed to intimidating women with a curse and 
an oath, he had found himself unexpectedly dealing with 
two who could scorch him with a scorn and contempt far 
more withering than a vulgar tirade of blasphemous lan- 
guage. 

Finally the break was made complete. Lorraine got 
safely away to Italy, her mother retired to an English \i\- 
lage, and Eaynor departed to America for good. 

For him it was merely a case of fresh pastures for fresh 
money making and fresh intrigues. 

For Mrs. Vivian only a passing exile from the gayeties 
and extravagance she loved. 

For Lorraine it meant a hideous memory, a hideous, 
overwhelming catastrophe, and a hideous tie from which 
she could not hope to free herself. 

She went away in a state of nervous prostration that 
was an illness, feeling the horror of it all in her very bones, 
and clinging with a silent hopelessness to Hal in a way 
that was more heartrending than any hysterical outburst. 

Yet that Hal was there was good indeed. Hal, who, 
though only twenty-one, could look out on an ugly world 
with those clear eyes of hers, and while seeing the ugliness 
undisguised, see always as it were beside it the ultimate 
good, the ultimate hope, the silver lining behind the black- 
est cloud. Hal, who could criticise unerringly, with direct, 
outspoken humor, and yet scorn to judge; who had learned, 
by some strange instinct, the precious art of holding out a 
friendly hand and generous friendship, even to those con- 
demned of the orthodox, sufferers probably through their 
own wild and foolish actions, without in any way becoming 
besmirched herself, or losing her own inherent freshness 
and purity. 


S8 


WINDIJ^’G PATHS 


It was not in the least surprising that a man as wedded 
to his books and profession as Dudley should fail to realize 
what was, in a measure, phenomenal. By the simple rule 
of A B C, he argued that ill necessarily contaminates, if 
the one to come in contact is of young and impressionable 
years. There might, of course, be exceptions, but hardly 
among those as frivolous and obstinate as Hal. 

He worried himself almost ill about it all, until Lor- 
raine was safely out of England, adding seriously to poor 
HaFs troubled mind, seeing she must stand by the one 
while longing to soothe and please the other, and fretting 
silently over his anxious expression. But once back in 
their old groove, he quickly recovered his spirits, and even 
tried to make up to Hal a little for what she had lost. 
Unfortunately, however, he hit upon an unhappy expedient. 

He tried to persuade her to make a friend of a certain 
Doris Hayward, instead of Lorraine. 

Doris’s brother had been Dudley’s great friend in the 
days when both were articled to the same profession, but 
a terrible accident had later lain him on an invalid couch 
for the rest of his life. 

When clerk of the works of one of London’s great build- 
ings, a heavy crane had slipped and swung sideways, fling- 
ing him into the street below. He was picked up and 
carried into the nearest hospital, apparently dead, but he 
had presently come back, almost from the grave, to drag 
out a weary life as an incurable on an invalid sofa. 

Soon afterwards his father died, leaving Basil and his 
two sisters the poor pittance of £50 a year between them. 

Ethel, the elder, was already a Civil Service clerk at 
the General Post Office, earning £110 a year, and on these 
two sums they had to subsist as best they could. 

Basil earned occasional guineas for copying work, when 
he was well enough to stand the strain, and Doris remained 
at home with him in the little Holloway flat, as nurse and 
housekeeper. 


WINDING PATHS 


39 


Dudley, with his usual lack of comprehension where 
women were concerned, evolved what seemed to him an 
admirable plan, by which Hal and Doris were to become 
great friends, thereby brightening poor Doris’s dull ex- 
istence, and weaning Hal from her allegiance to the unsat- 
isfactory Lorraine. 

His plans, however, quickly met with the discourage- 
ment and downfall inevitable from the beginning. At first 
he tried strategy, and Hal, in a good-tempered, careless 
way, merely listened, while easily avoiding any encounter. 

Then Dudley went a step too far. 

“ I have to be out three evenings this week, so I asked 
Doris Hayward to come and keep you company, as I 
thought you might be dull.” 

You asked Doris to come and keep me company ! ” 
repeated Hal, quite taken aback. 

Yes ; why not ? She is such a nice girl, and just your 
age. I can’t think why you are not greater friends.” 

It’s pretty apparent,” with a little curl of her lips. 

We haven’t anything in common : that’s all.” 

^^But why haven’t you? You can’t possibly know if 
you never meet. She seems such a far more sensible friend 
for you than Lorraine Vivian,” with a shade of irritation. 

Probably that is exactly why I don’t want her friend- 
ship,” with a light laugh. 

^^But you might try to be reasonable just once in a 
way. Try to be friendly to-morrow evening.” 

Hal, with her quick, light gracefulness, crossed to him, 
and playfully gave him a little shake. 

Dudley, you dear old idiot. I don’t know about being 
reasonable, but I can certainly be honest; and it’s honest 
I’m going to be now. I think it is almost a slur on Lor- 
raine to mention a little, silly, dolly-faced, conceited crea- 
ture like Doris in the same breath; and as for being 
friendly to her to-morrow evening, that’s impossible, be- 
cause I shall not be here. I’m going to the Denisons’, and 


40 


WINDING PATHS 


I don’t intend to postpone it. You will have to write and 
tell her I am engaged.” 

Dudley’s mouth quickly assumed the rigidity which 
denoted he was greatly displeased, and his voice was frigid 
as he replied: 

You are very unjust to Doris. You scarcely know 
her, and yet you condemn her offhand : the fault you are 
always finding in me. As for any comparison between her 
and Miss Vivian, it is very certain she would not sell her- 
self to a man, and then run away from him because things 
did not turn out as she wanted them.” 

Hal turned away, with a slight shrug and a humorous 
expression as of helplessness. 

We won’t argue, mon frere, because, since you always 
read books instead of people, you are not very well up in 
the subject. To put it both candidly and vulgarly, I 
haven’t any use for Doris Hayward at all. Ethel I admire 
tremendously, though I don’t think she likes me ; and Basil 
is a saint straight out of heaven, suffering martyrdom for 
no conceivable reason, but Doris is like a useless orna- 
mental china shepherdess, which ought to be put on a high 
shelf where it can’t get itself nor anyone else into trouble. 
I’m really dreadfully afraid if I had to spend a whole even- 
ing alone with her, I should drop her and break her to 
relieve my feelings.” 

Well, you needn’t worry ” — ^moving coldly away. I 
have far too much respect for Doris to allow her to come 
here just to be criticised by you. I will explain that you 
are unexpectedly engaged,” and he opened a paper in a 
manner to close the conversation. 

Hal made a little grimace at him behind it, and retired 
discreetly to prepare for her daily sojourn in the city. 

It happened, however, when, a year later,, Lorraine 
came hack to take up her theatrical career again in Eng- 
land, there was some vague change in her that made Dud- 
ley less severe in his criticisms. Trouble had not hardened 


WITOING PATHS 


41 


her, nor softened her, but it had made her a little less sure 
of herself, and a little more willing to please. 

Hitherto she had taken rather a pleasure in shocking 
Dudley, under the impression that it would do him good 
and open his mind a little. How she had a greater respect 
for his sterling side, and could smile kindly at his little 
foibles and fads. The result was that Dudley admitted, 
a trifle grudgingly, she had changed for the better, and 
rather looked forward to the occasional evenings she spent 
with Hal at their Bloomsbury apartments. 

He also had to admit that success had in no wise 
spoiled her, that it probably never would. The year of 
absence, it was soon seen, had not injured her reputation 
in the least. She came back to the stage renewed and in- 
vigorated, and with still more of that depth of feeling and 
atmosphere of soul which had so enriched her personations 
before. 

She became, very speedily, without any question, one 
of the leading actresses of the day ; and the veil of mystery 
that hung over the sudden termination of her short mar- 
ried life, if anything, enhanced her charm to a mystery- 
loving public. And all the time, as Dudley could not but 
see, she never changed to Hal. 

From adulation and adoration, from triumphs that 
might easily turn any head, she always came quickly back 
to the little Bloomsbury sitting room when she could, to 
have one of their old gay gossips and merry laughs. She 
seemed in some way to find a rest there that she could 
not get elsewhere, in the company of people who expected 
her to live up to a recognized standard of individuality. 

And the change in Lorraine was a change for the bet- 
ter in Hal, too, who began now to tone down a little, and 
at the same time to strengthen and deepen in character. 

They were, in fact, a pair it was good to see and good 
to know. In the first few years after the break-up of her 
home Lorraine was at her handsomest. Her dark, thick 


42 


WINDING PATHS 


hair had a gloss on it that in some lights showed like a 
bronze glow, and she wore it in thick coils round her small 
head, free from any exaggerated fashion, and yet with a 
distinction all its own. Her dark eyes once more showed 
the roguish lights of her school days, and her alluring red 
mouth twitched mischievously when she was in a gay mood. 

A little below the medium height, she was so perfectly 
built as to escape any appearance of shortness^ and carried 
herself so well that she sometimes appeared almost tall. 

Considering what her life had been, she looked strangely 
young for her years, seeming to combine most alluringly 
the knowledge and sympathy of a woman of thirty-five 
with the freshness and capacity for enjoyment of twenty- 
five. The irrevocable tie so far had not clashed with any 
new affection ; her husband remained in America and made 
no sign; and her art was all-sufficing. 

Hal was built on quite different lines. Tall, and slen- 
der, and well knit, she moved with the surging grace of 
the athlete, and looked out upon the world with a joyful- 
ness and humorous kindliness that won her friends every- 
where. She was not beautiful in any sense that could be 
compared with Lorraine, but she had pretty brown hair, 
and fine eyes, and a clear, warm skin that made up for 
many defects, and helped to produce a very attractive 
whole. 

Lorraine had taught her how to dress — an art of far 
deeper significance than many women trouble to realize; 
and wherever Hal went, if she did not create a sensation, 
at least she carried a distinction and pleasingness that were 
rarely overlooked. Her daily sojourn in the city, among 
the breadwinners, had made her large-hearted and gen- 
erously tolerant, without hurting in any degree her own 
innate womanliness and charm. 

She showed in her every gesture and action how it was 
possible to be of those who must scramble for buses, and 
press for trams, and live daily in the midst of panting. 


WIXDmG PATHS 


43 


straggling, working, grasping humans, without losing 
tone, or gentleness, or a radiant, fearless spirit. 

At the office of the newspaper where she filled the 
post of secretary and typist, she was a sort of cheerful 
institution to smooth worried faces and call up a smile 
amidst the irritability and frowns. 

Blunderers went to her with their troubles, and felt 
fairly secure if she would break the news of the blunder 
or mistake to the irritable and awe-inspiring chief. He, 
in his turn, would be irritable before her, but never with 
her; and it was a recognized fact among the staff that she 
was almost the only one who could make him laugh. 

Thus a few intervening years passed happily enough, 
bringing Lorraine to her thirty- first birthday and Hal to 
her twenty-fifth, without any further upheavals to strike 
a discordant note across the daily round, except such in- 
evitable trials as Lorraine continued to meet through her 
mother, and Hal through her devotion to a noncompre- 
hending brother. Only, while they had each other and 
their work, such difficulties were not hard to cope with; 
and life sang a gayer, happier song to them than she usu- 
ally sings to the mere pleasure seekers. 

For work in a wide and interesting sphere is a price- 
less boon, and the men who would condemn women solely 
to pleasure seeking and the four walls of their home are 
showing the very acme of selfishness, in that they are 
endeavoring to keep solely and entirely for themselves one 
of the best things life has to give. 


4 


CHAPTEK VI 


It will be remembered, perhaps, that an occasion has 
already occurred when Hal had cause to congratulate her- 
self upon the possession of a cousin, named Dick, who 
acted as an antidote to a brother who sometimes resembled 
a great-aunt. 

Dick, or to give him his full name, Eichard Alastair 
Bruce, was indeed her best friend and boon companion 
next to Lorraine. He was her earliest playmate, and like- 
wise her latest. For many months together they had been 
companions in the wildest of the wild escapades as chil- 
dren, at Dick’s country home; and now that they were 
both responsible members of the community, in the world’s 
greatest city, they were equally attached. 

If Hal was down on her luck, she telephoned Dick to 
come instantly to the rescue, and if it was humanly pos- 
sible he came. If Dick wanted a sympathetic or a gay 
companion, either to go out with him or to listen to his 
latest inspirations, he telephoned to Hal, and little short 
of an urgent, important engagement would delay her. 

At the time he becomes of any importance in this 
narrative he was established in a flat in the Cromwell 
Eoad, as one of a trio sometimes known as the Three 
Graces. The other two were Harold St. Quintin and 
Alymer Hermon. 

The appellation was first given to them when they 
were freshmen at Hew College, Oxford; partly because 
they were inseparable, partly because they were a particu- 
larly good-looking trio, and partly because they all three 
came up from Winchester with great cricket reputations. 

44 


WINDING PATHS 


45 


Within two years they were all playing for the ’Varsity, 
and one of them was made captain. 

Three years from the term of their leaving, after each 
had gone his own way for a season, they gravitated together 
again, and finally became established in the Cromwell 
Road flat, once more on the old affectionate terms. 

Dick Bruce was following a literary career, of a some- 
what ambiguous nature. He wrote weird articles for weird 
papers, under weird pseudonyms, verses, under a woman’s 
name, for women’s papers, usually of the Home Dress- 
maker type; occasional lines to advertise some patent 
medicine or soap; one or two Salvation Army hymns of 
a particularly rousing nature; and sometimes a weighty, 
brilliant article for a first-class paper, duly signed in his 
own name. 

Besides all this he visited a publisher’s office most days, 
where he was supposed to be meditating the acquirement 
of a partnership. Hal was very apt at terse, concise 
definitions, and she was quite up to her best form when 
she described him as ^^the maddest of a mad clan run 
amuck.” 

Harold St. Quintin, or Quin, as everyone called him, 
was idealist, etherealist, and dreamer. His original inten- 
tion had been to enter the church, but having gone down 
into East London to give six months to slum work, he 
had remained two years without showing any inclination 
to give it up. Sometimes he lived at the flat, and some- 
times he was lost for a week at a time somewhere east 
of St. Paul’s, where one might as well have looked for 
him as for the proverbial needle in a haystack. 

Alymer Hermon, after a sojourn on the continent to 
study languages, was now established with a barrister, 
waiting, it must be confessed, without much concern, for 
his first brief. 

Of the three he was the most striking. Dick Bruce 
was only ordinarily good looking, with a very white skin. 


46 


WINDING PATHS 


a fine forehead, and an arresting pair of eyes — eyes that 
were like an index to a brain that held volumes of original 
observations and whimsicalities, and revealed only just 
as much or little as the author chose. 

Harold St. Quintin was small and rather delicate, with 
never-failing cheerfulness on his lips, and eyes that seemed 
always to have behind them the recollection of the pitiful 
scenes among which he voluntarily moved. 

Alymer Hermon was Adonis returned to earth. He 
stood six feet five and a half inches in his socks, and was 
as perfectly proportioned as a man may be; with a head 
and face any sculptor might have been proud to copy line 
by line for a statue of masculine beauty. 

When he was captain of the Oxford Eleven, people 
spoke of his beauty more than his cricket, although the 
latter was quite sufficiently striking in itself. There were 
others who had sweepstakes on his height, before the 
score he would make, or the men he would bowl. 

The ^Varsity was proud of him, as they had never been 
proud of a captain before, because he upheld every tradi- 
tion of manliness and manhood at its best. And they only 
liked him the better that so far his attitude to his own 
comeliness was rather that of boredom than anything else. 
Certainly it weighed as nothing in the balance against the 
joy of scoring a century and achieving a good average 
with his bowling. 

He was equally bored with the young girls who gazed 
at him in adoration, and the women who petted him, and 
it was a considerable source of worry to him that he might 
appear effeminate, because of his blue eyes and golden 
hair, and fresh, clear complexion, when in reality he was 
as manly as the plainest of hard-sinewed warriors, though 
the indulgence of a slightly aesthetic manner and way of 
speech, learned at the University, increased rather than 
counteracted the suggestion of effeminacy. 

But, taking all things into consideration, he was singu- 


WINDING PATHS 


47 


larly unspoiled and unassuming; and sometimes blended 
with an old-fashioned, paternal air a boyishness and power 
of enjoyment that could not fail to charm. 

The first time that Lorraine met the trio was when 
Hal took her to spend the evening at the fiat one Sunday, 
by arrangement with her cousin. She herself knew all 
three well, having been to the fiat many times, but it had 
taken some little persuasion to get Lorraine to go with 
her. 

Of course they are just boys,” said grandiloquent 
twenty-five, but they are quite amusing, and they will 
be proud of it all their lives if they can say they once 
had Lorraine Vivian at the fiat as a guest.” 

What do you call boys ? ” asked Lorraine, looking 
amused ; “ I thought you said they had all left college.” 

So they have, but that’s nothing. Dick is only 
twenty-five, and the others are about twenty-four.” 

“A much more irritating age than mere boyhood as 
a rule.” 

Decidedly ; but they really are a little exceptional. 
Dick, of course, is quite mad — that’s what makes him in- 
teresting. Al3rmer Hermon is a giant with a great cricket 
reputation, and Harold St. Quintin is a sort of modern 
Francis Assisi with a sense of humor.” 

The giant sounds the dullest. I hope he doesn’t 
want to talk cricket all the time, because I don’t know 
anything about it, except that if a man stands before the 
wicket he is out, and if he stands behind it he is not in.” 

Oh, no ; he doesn’t talk cricket. He mostly talks 
drivel with Dick, and St. Quintin laughs.” 

Dick sounds quite the best, in spite of his madness. 
A cricketer who talks drivel, and a future clergyman work- 
ing in the East End, don’t suggest anything that appeals 
to me in the least.” 

Nevertheless, when Lorraine, looking very lovely, en- 
tered the small sitting room of her three hosts, her second 


48 


WINDING PATHS 


glance, in spite of herself, strayed back to the young giant 
on the hearth rug. He was looking at Hal sideways, with 
a quizzical air; and she heard him say: 

It may be new, but it’s not the very latest fashion, 
because it doesn’t stick out far enough at the back, and it 
doesn’t cover up enough of your face.” 

" Oh, well ! ” said Hal jauntily, if I had as much 
time as you to study the fashions, I dare say I should know 
as much about them. But I have to worlc for my living,” 
with satirical emphasis. 

What a nuisance for you,” with a delightful smile. 

I only pretend to work for mine.” 

“We all know that. You sit on a stool, and look nice, 
and wait for a brief to come along and beg to be taken up.” 

“ It’s a chair. I’m not one of the clerks. And I 
shouldn’t get a brief any quicker if I went and shouted on 
the housetops that I wanted one.” 

“ Besides, you don’t want one. You know you wouldn’t 
know what to do with it if you got it. Well, how’s East 
London? ...” and Hal crossed to the slum worker, with 
a show of interest she evidently did not feel for the embryo 
barrister. Lorraine smiled at him, however, and he moved 
leisurely forward to take the vacant seat beside her on the 
sofa. 

“ Is Hal trying to sharpen her wit at your expense ? ” 
she asked him, in a friendly, natural way. 

“ Yes ; but it’s a very blunt weapon at the best. People 
who always think they are the only ones to work are very 
tiring ; don’t you think so ? ” 

“ Decidedly ; and I don’t suppose she does half as 
much as you and I in reality.” 

“ Oh, well, I could hardly belie myself so far as to 
assert that. You see, it takes a long time to make people 
understand what a good barrister you would be if you got 
the chance to prove it.” 

Hal could not resist a timely shot. 


WINDING PATHS 


49 


Personally, I should adyise you to try and prove it 
without the chance. The chance might undo the proving, 
you see.’’ 

What a rotten, mixed-up, meaningless remark ! ” he 
retorted. Is it because you find I am so dull, you still 
have to talk to me ? ” 

Quin is never dull, he is only depressing. Dick, do 
hurry up and begin supper. I always feel horribly hungry 
here, because I know Quin has just come away from some 
starving family or other, and I have to try and eat to 
forget.” 

Lorraine leaned across to the dreamy-eyed, first-class 
cricketer, voluntarily giving his life to the slums. 

Why do you do it ? ” she asked with sudden interest. 

It seems, somehow, unnatural in a — ” she hesitated, 
then finished a little lamely, a man like you.” 

Oh, no, not at all,” he hastened to assure her. It’s 
the most fascinating work in the world. It’s full of nov- 
elty and surprises for one thing.” 

She shuddered a little. 

But the misery and want and starvation. The . . . 
the . . . utter hopelessness of it all.” 

But it isn’t hopeless at all. Nothing is hopeless. 
And then, knowing the misery is there, and doing noth- 
ing, is far worse than seeing it and doing what one can.” 

Oh, no, because one can forget so often.” 

Some can. I can’t. Therefore I can only choose to 
go and wrestle with it.” 

Of course it is heroic of you, but still ” 

Harold St. Quintin gave a gay laugh. 

^^It is not a bit more heroic than your work on the 
stage to give people pleasure. I get as much satisfaction 
in return as you do; and that is the main point. Slum 
humanity is seething with interest, and it is by no means 
all sad, nor all discouraging. There is probably more humor 
and heroism there per square mile than anywhere else.” 


50 


WINDING PATHS 


^^And no doubt more animal life also/’ put in Dick 
Bruce. It’s the superfluous things that put me off, not 
the want of anything.” 

It’s feeling such an ass puts me off,” added Hermon ; 
they’re all so busy and alert about one thing or another 
down there, they make me feel a mere cumberer of the 
earth. A woman manages a husband, and a family, and 
some sort of a home, and does the breadwinning as well. 
The children try to earn pennies in their playtime; and 
the men work at trying to get work.” 

Whereas you ? . . .” suggested Hal with a twinkle, 
^‘work at trying not to get work.” 

Come to supper, and don’t be so personal, Hal,” said 
her cousin. I wrote a poem on you last week, and called 
it ^ Why Men Die Young.’ It is in a rag called The 
Womans Own Newspaper. It is also in The Youth's 
Journal, with the pronouns altered, and a different title; 
but I forget what.” 

What a waste of time — writing such drivel,” Hal 
flung at him. Why don’t you compose a masterpiece, and 
scale Olympus ? ” 

Too commonplace. Lots of men have done that. 
Very few are positive geniuses at writing drivel. I claim 
to be in the front rank.” 

They sat down to a lively repast, and Lorraine found 
herself, instead of an awe-inspiring, distinguished guest, 
treated with a frank camaraderie that was both amusing 
and refreshing. They all made a butt of Hal, who was 
quite equal to the three of them; and when the giant 
paraphrased one of her (Lorraine’s) most tragic utter- 
ances on the stage into a serio-comic dissertation on a fruit 
salad they were eating, lacking in wine, she laughed as 
gayly as any, and felt she had known them for years. 

Then Hal insisted upon playing a game she had that 
moment invented, which consisted of each one confessing 
his or her greatest failing, and the gayety grew. 


WINDING PATHS 


51 


She led off by informing them that she found she 
always jumped eagerly at any excuse to avoid her morn- 
ing bath. Dick Bruce followed it up with a confession 
that he found he was never satisfied with fewer than four 
^^best girls,” because he liked to compare notes between 
them, and write silly verses on his observations; while 
Harold St. Quintin owned to an objectionable fancy for 
bull’s-eye peppermints and blowing eggs. 

Alymer Hermon confessed that he loved giving advice 
to people years older than himself, concerning things he 
knew nothing whatever about. 

Lorraine tried to cry off, but, hard pressed, she ad- 
mitted that she liked the excitement of spending money 
she had not got, and then having to pawn something to 
satisfy her creditors. Spending money you will not 
miss,” she finished, ‘^is very dull beside spending money 
you do not possess.” 

Alymer Hermon then suggested they should tell each 
other of besetting faults, and at once informed Hal her 
colossal opinion of herself and all she did was only equaled 
by its entire lack of foundation. 

Hal hurled back at him that every inch in height after 
six feet absorbed vitality from the brain, and that, though 
his dense stupidity was most trying, the reason for it 
claimed their compassion. 

^^You pride yourself beyond all reason on your stat- 
ure,” she said, ^^and are too dense to perceive it is your 
undoing.” 

Lorraine leaned toward him and said: 

" Inches give magnanimity : big men are always big 
hearted; you can afford to forgive her, and retaliate that 
too much brain-power sinks individuality into mere ma- 
chinery. I should say Hal’s besetting fault was rapping 
everyone on the knuckles, as if they were the keys of a 
typewriting machine.” 

And yours, my dear Lorraine, is smiling into every- 


52 


WINDING PATHS 


one’s eyes, as if the world held no others for you. Were 
I a man, and you smiled at me so, I would strangle you 
before you had time to repeat the glance on some one 
else.” 

And Dick’s besetting sin,” murmured St. Quintin 
plaintively, ‘^is a persistent fancy for other people’s ties 
and other people’s boots. I have cause to bless the benign 
providence who fashioned my shoulders sufficiently smaller 
than his to prevent his wearing my coats.” 

And yours. Quin,” broke in Hermon, is a fond and 
loathsome affection for pipes so seasoned that the Board 
of Trade ought to prohibit their use.” 

After all,” Hal rapped out at him, that’s not so 
bad as love of a looking-glass.” 

And love of a looking-glass is no worse than love of 
throwing stones from glass houses,” he retorted. 

Of course it isn’t, Hal,” broke in her cousin, and 
probably if you had anything nice to look at in your 

glass ” 

Hal stood up. 

The meeting is adjourned,” she announced solemnly, 
^^and the honorable member who has just spoken has the 
president’s leave to absent himself on the occasion of the 
next gathering.” 

Excellent,” cried Quin, while Hermon in great glee 
rapped the table with his knife handle and exclaimed. 
Capital, Dick ! . . . That drew her. ... I think you 
might say it took the middle stump.” 

Oh, thank goodness he’s got on to cricket,” breathed 
Hal. He does know a little about that, and may possibly 
talk sense for ten minutes. Come along, Lorraine, and 
don’t address baby at present, for fear you distract him 
from his game and start him off struggling to be clever 
again. As it is Sunday night, perhaps Dick would like 
to read us his latest effusions in the way of boisterous 
hymns ! ” 


WINDING PATHS 


53 


She led the way back to the bachelor sitting room, 
and for some little time Dick amused them greatly with 
his experiences over editors and magazines, and then the 
two went off together to Lorraine’s flat. 

At this time Lorraine was living at the bottom of 
Lower Sloane Street, with windows looking over the 
river, and it was generally supposed that her mother lived 
with her. 

As a matter of fact, Mrs. Vivian only occupied the 
ground floor flat in company with a friend. Lorraine gave 
her an income on condition she should live there, and so, 
in a sense, act as a sort of chaperon to silence the tongues 
ever ready to find food for scandal in the fact of brilliance 
and beauty living alone; but mother and daughter had 
never again been on terms of cordiality. 

So Hal was often Lorraine’s companion for several 
nights, coming and going as she fancied, always sure of a 
welcome. To her the flat was a constant delight, and in 
the evening she loved to sit on the veranda and watch 
the gliding river — not to sentimentalize and dream, but 
because she loved London with all her heart and soul and 
strength, and to her the river was as the city’s pulsing 
heart. 

The moist freshness of the air coming across from 
Battersea Park was only the more refreshing after Blooms- 
bury, and the vicinity of several well-known names in the 
world of art and letters appealed powerfully to her im- 
agination. Lorraine usually sat just inside the long 
French window, taking care of her voice, and listening 
contentedly to Hal’s chatter. 

They sat thus for a little while after their return from 
Cromwell Eoad, and it was noticeable that Lorraine was 
even more silent than usual. Hal told her something 
about each of their three hosts in turn, while showing an 
unmistakable preference for the slum worker and her 
cousin. At last Lorraine interrupted her. 


54 


WINDING PATHS 


« Why do you say so little about Mr. Hermon ? . . . 
You merely told me he was a cricketer, which doesn’t, as 
a matter of fact, describe him at all.” 

Hal shrugged her shoulders. 

I suppose he doesn’t interest me except in that way.” 

But it is a mere side issue. If he weren’t a cricketer 
he would be just as remarkable.” 

^^But he isn’t remarkable. He’s only exceptionally 
big.” 

He’s one of the most remarkable men I’ve ever seen, 
anyway.” 

Oh, nonsense, Lorraine. Besides, he is hardly a man 
yet. He’s only twenty-four.” 

^^I can’t help that,” with a little light laugh. ^^I’ve 
seen a great many men in my life, but I’ve never seen any- 
one before like Alymer Hermon.” 

Why in the world not ? What do you mean ? ” 

^^Well, to begin with, he’s the most perfect specimen 
of manhood I’ve ever beheld. He’s abnormally big with- 
out the slightest suggestion of being either too big or 
awkward. He’s simply magnificent. Most men of that 
size are just leggy and gawky: he is neither. Again, 
other men built as he, are usually rather brainless and 
weak, or probably made so much of by women that they 
become wrapped up in themselves, and are always ex- 
pecting admiration. Alymer Hermon has the freshness 
of a delightful boy, with the fine face and courtly manners 
of a charming man. If you can’t see this, it’s because you 
don’t know men as well as I do.” 

Hal stepped over the window sill into the room. 

Pooh ! ” she said impatiently. What in the world 
has happened to you? He’s just a stuffed blue-and-gold 
Apollo.” 

Lorraine got up also. 

^^He is more than that. Some day you will see; un- 
less . . . unless. . . 


WINDING PATHS 


55 


"^Well, unless what?” 

Oh, nothing, only a man like that can’t expect to 
escape being spoiled. A certain type of woman will in- 
evitably mark him down for her prey, and ruin all his 
freshness.” 

Then you had better take him under your wing,” 
Hal laughed. It would be a pity for such a paragon to 
be lost to society. Personally, stuffed blue-and-gold Apol- 
los don’t interest me in the least. Come along to bed. 
I’m dead tired,” and she dragged Lorraine away. 

But instead of sleeping, the actress lay silently watch- 
ing a star that shone in at her window, and thinking a 
little sadly about the man nature had chosen to endow so 
bountifully. In a few weeks she would be thirty-two and 
he was twenty-four. 

Supposing it had been twenty-two instead of thirty- 
two, and out of his splendor he had given his heart to 
her dark beauty, what a tale it might have been — what 
a fairy tale of sweet, impossible things, with a golden- 
haired prince and a dark-eyed princess. 

She awoke from her daydream with a touch of im- 
patience, apostrophizing herself for her folly. After all, 
what had a beautiful, successful woman at her prime to 
do with a youth of twenty-four, who played foolish games 
at a supper table, and was only just beginning to know 
his world? Of course he would bore her intolerably at a 
second interview, and, closing her eyes resolutely, she drove 
his image from her mind. 


CHAPTER VII 


The second interview, however, by a mere coincidence, 
took place at Lorraine’s flat. She was walking leisurely 
down Sloane Street one afternoon, after visiting her mil- 
liner’s, when she ran into the young giant going in the 
opposite direction. 

How so ? . . . ” she asked gayly, as his face lit up 
with a pleased smile, and he stopped in front of her. 
‘^Whither away at this hour? Are you out chasing a 
brief?” 

Much too brief,” he told her. I had to carry 
some important papers to a certain well-known cab- 
inet minister ; and he did not even vouchsafe me a 
glance of his countenance. I was given an acknowledg- 
ment of them by the footman, as if I had been a mes- 
senger boy.” 

Too bad. I think you deserve that another celebrify 
should give you a cup of tea, to redeem your opinion of the 
immortals. My flat is quite near, and I am now returning. 
Will you come?” 

Oh, won’t I ? ” he said boyishly, and turned back. 

It was the fashionable hour in Sloane Street, when 
many well-dressed, well-known people are often seen walk- 
ing, and when the road is full of private motors and car- 
riages. Lorraine found herself moving still more slowly. 
She was accustomed to being gazed at herself, had in fact 
grown a little blase of it, but the frank admiration be- 
stowed on her giant amused and pleased her. 

Covertly she watched, as she chatted up to him, for 
56 


WINDING PATHS 


57 


the tell-tale consciousness and perhaps heightened color. 
But when he was not looking back into her face he looked 
straight before him, over the heads of the admiring eyes, 
and paid no smallest heed to them. Neither was he in 
the least self-conscious with her. She wondered if he 
even realized that the tete-a-tete he accepted so simply 
would have been a joy of heaven to many. Anyhow, far 
from resenting his seeming want of due appreciation, she 
found it made him more interesting. 

She spoke of Hal, and he immediately exclaimed : 

Hal is a ripper, isn’t she ? I can’t help teasing her, 
you know; it’s the best fun in the world.” 

Do you usually tease your feminine friends ? ” she 
asked. I’ve no doubt you have a great many.” 

Oh, no, I haven’t. Men pals are far jollier.” 

Still, I expect your inches bring you many fair 
admirers.” 

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, and looked a trifle 
bored, and she divined that he disliked flattery and prob- 
ably the subject of his appearance. She adroitly turned 
the conversation back to Hal, and spoke of her until they 
reached the block of flats. 

Is this where you live ? What a ripping situation ! ” 
he exclaimed. I would sooner be near the river than 
near Knightsbridge, even if it is not so classy.” 

He followed her into the lift, and then into her charm- 
ing home, full of enthusiasm, and still without exhibiting 
a shade of self-consciousness. 

Lorraine found her interest growing momentarily, as 
he took up his stand on her hearth and gazed frankly 
around with undisguised pleasure. 

‘^What a jolly nice room. It’s one of the prettiest 
I’ve seen. You have the same color-scheme as the Duchess 
of Medstone in her boudoir, but I like your furniture 
better.” 

Lorraine glanced up a little surprised. 


58 


WINDING PATHS 


Do you know the Duchess of Medstone ? 

“ Well, yes a trifle bashfully. You see, those sort 
of people ask me to their houses because of my cricket. 
Private cricket weeks are rather fashionable, and I get 
invitations as the late Oxford captain.’^ 

And do you go to people you don’t know ? ” 

Yes, rather, if I can raise the funds. The nuisance 
is the tipping. There’s always such a rotten lot of serv- 
ants; and I’m too much afraid of them to give anything 
but gold.” 

The tea came in, and she saw him glance round for 
the chair best suited to his bulk. 

My chairs were not designed for giants,” she told 
him laughingly; ^‘you will have to come and sit on the 
settee.” 

He came at once, stretching his long legs out before 
him, with lazy ease, and then drawing his knees up sharply, 
as if in sudden remembrance that he was a guest and they 
were comparative strangers. Lorraine liked him, both for 
the moment’s forgetfulness and the sudden remembrance, 
and as she glanced again at his beautiful head and splendid 
shoulders, she was conscious of a sudden thrill of appre- 
ciative admiration. 

Hal was right in naming him Apollo. The Sun God 
might have been fashioned just so, when first he ravished 
the eyes of Venus. 

^^And so the duchess took you into her boudoir?” 
she asked, with an unaccountable twinge of jealousy. “ I 
do not know her. I’m afraid my friends are not so aris- 
tocratic as yours. But I believe she is considered very 
handsome.” 

Hard,” he said, with an old-fashioned air. Hand- 
some enough, but very hard. I did not like her nearly so 
much as Lady Moir, her sister.” 

Still no doubt she was very nice to you ? ” 

Lorraine rather hated herself for the question. The 


WINDING PATHS 


59 


ways of aristocratic ladies, whose idle hours often supply 
a field of labor for the Evil One, were perfectly well known 
to her; and she wondered a little sharply how far he was 
still unspoiled. The majority of big, strong, full-blooded 
young men in his place would assuredly have sipped 
the cup of pleasure pretty deeply by now, even at his 
years, but with that fine, strong face, and the clear, 
frank eyes was he of these? She believed not, and was 
glad. 

He did not treat her question as if it implied any 
special favors, and merely replied jocularly: 

Well, I suppose, since her blood is very blue and mine 
merely tinged, she was rather gracious, but of course the 
really ^blue’ people generally are.’^ 

Tell me who you happen to be ? ” Lorraine leaned 
back against her cushions, with her slow, easy grace, ask- 
ing the question with a lightness that robbed it of all point- 
edness or snobbery. 

He seemed amused, for he smiled as he answered 
frankly : 

I happen to be Alymer Hadstock Hermon, one of 
the Hermons all right, but not the drawing-room end, so 
to speak; at the same time tinged with the family shadi- 
ness — ^ blue ’ of course I mean — though no doubt it applies 
in other ways as well. Does that satisfy your curiosity, or 
do you want to know more ? ” 

She loved looking at him, particularly with that humor- 
ous little smile on his lips, so she said : 

Not half. I want to know all the rest.” 

‘^Very well. It’s quite an open book. I was born 
twenty-four years ago. I am an only child, and, as usual, 
the apple of my mother’s eye and the terror of my father’s 
pocket. He, my father, is not much else just now except 
a recluse. He was recently a member of parliament, a 
Liberal member, and, God knows, that’s little enough. I 
believe he even climbed in by a Chinese pigtail. 

5 


60 


WINDING PATHS 


grandfather was a judge in the Divorce Court, 
which doesn’t somehow sound quite respectable, and my 
great-grandfather was a writer of law books, for which, 
personally, I think he ought to have been hanged. I can’t 
go any farther back; at any rate I don’t want to, because 
I’m certain it’s all so correct and dull there isn’t even a 
family skeleton.” 

Is it the women or the men of the family that are 
beautiful ? ” 

Oh, both,” with humorous eagerness. Skeletons 
and ghosts we sought, and clamored for, but ugliness, 
never.” 

Well, it’s a pity you were not a woman. Looks are 
wasted in a man. Give a man a ready tongue and a taking 
manner, and he can usually get what he wants, if he’s as 
ugly as a frog. With you, on the other hand, things will 
come too easily. You will miss all the fun of the chase. 
On my soul I’m sorry for you.” 

The briefs don’t come, anyway, nor the ^ ogf ’ : that’s 
all I can see to be sorry for.” 

^^You don’t want them badly enough, that’s all. If 
you want the one, you’ll make love to an influential woman 
who can get them, and if you want the other, you’ll marry 
an heiress.” 

I say, you’re giving me rather a rotten character, 
aren’t you ? ” 

He faced her suddenly, and a new expression dawned 
in his eyes, as if he were only just awakening to the fact 
that she was beautiful. 

Do you really think I’m such a rotter as all that ? ” 

She glanced away, lowering her eyelids, so that her long 
lashes swept the warm olive cheeks, and with a little callous 
shrug answered : 

Why should you he a rotter for doing what all the rest 
of the world does? Four fifths of mankind would give 
anything for your chances.” 


WITOING PATHS 


61 


"" But you just said you were sorry for me ? ” 

So I am. So I should be for the four fifths of man- 
kind, if they got all they wanted just for the asking.’^ 

He smiled with a sudden, charming whimsicality. 

I don’t feel much in need of sympathy, you know. 
It’s a ripping old world, as long as you can indulge a few 
mild fancies, and be let alone.” 

" Mild fancies ! ” 

She turned on him suddenly. 

What have you to do with mild fancies ? Why, you 
can have the world at your feet with a little exertion. 
Haven’t you any ambition ? Don’t you even want to plead 
in the greatest law court in the world as one of the first 
barristers in Europe ? ” 

^^Not particularly. Why should I? It would be no 
end of a fag. I’d far rather be let alone.” 

You . . . you . . . sluggard,” breaking into a laugh. 

If I were Fate, I’d just take you by the shoulders and shake 
you till you woke up. Then I’d go on shaking to keep 
you awake. You shouldn’t be wasted on mere nonentity 
if I held the threads.” 

But his blue eyes only smiled whimsically back at her. 

I’m jolly glad you haven’t a say in the matter. Wliy, 
I should have to give up cricket, and take to working! 
You’re as bad as Quin with his slumming, and Dick with 
his rotten verses.” 

You don’t know yet that I haven’t a say in the mat- 
ter,” she remarked daringly. Have a cigarette. I’m 
awfully sorry I didn’t remember sooner.” 

Indeed, you ought to be,” was the gay rejoinder. 

I’ve been just dying for the moment when you would 
remember.” 

An electric bell rang out as they were lighting their 
cigarettes, and a moment later Hal danced into the room 
with shining eyes and glowing cheeks. A few paces from 
the door she stopped suddenly. 


62 


WINDING PATHS 


Halloo, Baby,” she said, addressing Hermon, where 
have yon sprung from ? ” 

I found it wandering alone in Sloane Street,” Lor- 
raine remarked, and now we’ve been teaing together.” 

Alymer did not look any too pleased at Hal’s frank 
appellation, but former remonstrance had only been met 
with derision, and he knew he had no choice but to submit 
with a good grace. 

I might ask the same question. Lady Clerk,” he 
replied. 

Don’t call me a lady clerk — I hate the term. I’m 
a typist, secretary, bachelor girl, city worker, anything you 
like, not a lady clerk — ^bah! . . .” 

Then don’t call me Baby.” 

Hal’s face broke into the most attractive of smiles. 

I can’t help it. Everything about you, your size, your 
face, your ways just clamor to be called ^ Baby.’ Of 
course if you’d rather be Apollo ” 

Good Lord, no : is that the only alternative ? ” 

I’m afraid so; you needn’t go if you don’t want to,” 
as he prepared to depart. We are not going to talk 
grown-up secrets.” 

If I were Mr. Hermon, I’d give you one good shaking, 
Hal,” put in Lorraine. I’m sure you deserve it.” 

^^Not a bit. Nothing could do him more good than 
regular interviews with me, to undo all the harm he has 
received in between from silly, idiotic women, who make 
him think he is something out of the ordinary. Isn’t that 
so. Baby? Aren’t you laboring under the delusion that 
you’re a remarkably fine specimen of humanity? And all 
the time. Heaven knows, you’ve about as much honest pur- 
pose and brains as a big overgrown schoolboy.” 

I hope you are not intending to imply he is more 
richly endowed with dishonest purpose ? ” said Lorraine. 

Oh, I wouldn’t mind that,” Hal declared, so long as 
it was energy and purpose of some kind.” 


PATHS 


63 


Even to giving you that good shaking ? ” he asked, 
coming forward a step menacingly. 

‘^Hot in here,” in alarm; ‘^you and I scrapping in 
Lorraine’s drawing-room would cost a hundred pounds or 
so in valuables. I’ll cry ^ pax,’ ” as he still advanced. 

Of course you are rather a fine boy, really, I was only 
pulling your leg.” 

Hermon subsided with a laugh, and Hal proceeded to 
explain that she had come on business, having been asked 
by the editor of one of their small magazines to write up 
an interview with the actress for him. 

I shall say I found you having a cozy tete-a-tete 
with a young barrister of many inches and little brains,” 
she laughed. Come, Lorraine, spout away. What is 
your favorite hors d'cBUvre? Did you feel like a boiled 
owl at your first appearance? And which horse do you 
back for next year’s Derby ? ” 

She started scribbling, to the amusement of the other 
two, carrying on a desultory conversation meanwhile. 

This isn’t anything to do with my department, but I 
like Mr. Hadley, and he was keen about it, and offered 
me three guineas, so I said I’d do it. . . . Are your eyes 
yellow or green ? For the life of me, I don’t know. Which 
would you rather I called them? . . . I’ve got to go 
to Marlboro’ House to-morrow to get up a short and 
vivid account of a garden party, because Miss Alton, 
who generally does it, is down with ‘flu.’ Were you 
a prodigal as a kid? no; I mean a prodigy. . . . Fancy 
me at Marlboro’ House! Awful thought, isn’t it? How 
they dare? 

“ What is your favorite pastime ? Shall I put down 
shooting ? I know you don’t know one end of a gun from 
the other, but it doesn’t matter ; and it reads rather well 
— something unique about it in an actress.” 

“ Why not put angling, and give some of my dear ene- 
mies a chance to ask what for?” 


64 


WINDING PATHS 


Or jam-making/’ suggested Alymer, and redeem 
the stage in the eyes of the British matron.” 

Oh, don’t talk . . . how can I write ? Shall I bring 
myself in, and dig up the dear old chestnut of David and 
Jonathan? ... or shall I describe Dudley’s disapproval 
melting into undisguised worship,” she rippled with laugh- 
ter as she scribbled on. Oh, dear, think if Dudley were 
to find it, and read it, because he hasn’t even discovered 
yet that he has ceased to disapprove. 

Who’s your favorite poet ? I might say Dick Bruce ; 
he would write a book of poems at once. And Quin might 
be your hero in real life. Do you know where you were 
born? Up in the Himalayas sounds nice and airy, and 
it might as well have been there as anywhere.” 

If you want any more you must get it while I eat my 
dinner,” said Lorraine, rising. I have to try and be at 
the theater at seven just now. You may as well both dine 
with me, and you can come to my dressing room after- 
wards if you like, Hal.” 

^^No, thank you”; and Hal pulled a wry face. I’ve 
seen quite enough of the wings, and the green room, and 
all the rest of it. You might take Baby, just to show him 
the real thing, and put him off it once for all.” 

She turned to Hermon. 

“ Have you ever been behind the scenes ? I used to 
go sometimes, just for the fun of it, while it was a novelty ; 
but it quite cured me of any possible taste for the stage. 
Most of the performers were so nervous they could hardly 
speak ; their teeth just chattered with cold and fright min- 
gled, and the gloom of it was like a vault. And then all 
the gaping, staring faces in rows, looking out of the dark- 
ness. You can’t think how idiotic people look seen like 
that. It always suggested to me that both stage and stalls 
were like children playing at being lunatics.” 

‘^That’s only your dreadfully prosaic, unromantic 
mind, Hal. You just like to write newspaper articles, and 


WINDING PATHS 65 

type letters, and smother your imagination under dry-as- 
dust facts.” 

Smother my imagination,” echoed Hal, with a laugh. 
Wliy, it would take the imaginations of fifty ordinary 
people to concoct some of the paragraphs we fix up during 
the week. My imagination is a positive gold mine at the 
office, at least it would be if they dare print all that I 
suggest.” 

You should run a paper yourself,” suggested Hermon : 
a few libel actions would make it pay like anything.” 

Ah, you haven’t seen Dudley,” with a little grimace. 
Dudley would have a fit and die before the first action had 
had time to reach its interesting stage. I’d take you home 
to see him now, but he happens to have gone up to Hollo- 
way to dinner.” 

“ I’m dining out myself, so I must fly.” He turned to 
Lorraine, with a gay little smile. I say, may I come and 
dine with you some other time ? ” 

Come to the Carlton on Sunday, will you ? ” 

Lorraine hardly knew why she made the sudden de- 
cision ; she only knew perfectly well she would have to break 
another engagement to keep it, and that she was foolishly 
glad when he accepted. 

^^It’s all right; you needn’t ask me,” volunteered Hal, 
as her friend glanced at her. I’m going motoring with 
Dick, and I shall insist upon staying out until ten or eleven. 
I always try and fill my Sundays full of fresh air. Where 
are you going to-night. Baby ? ” she added, with a charm- 
ingly impudent smile. 

The Albert Hall, with Lady Selon ” ; and a twinkle 
shone in his eyes. 

Goodness gracious ! What in the world are you going 
to the Albert Hall for ? and who is Lady Selon ? ” 

She is Soccer Selon’s sister-in-law, and she asked me 
to take her to a concert. Is there anything else you would 
like to know ? ” 


66 


WINDING PATHS 


Her age ? ” archly. 

Somewhere about thirty-five, I should imagine.” 

^^Oh! your grandmother, or thereabouts. Well, skip 
along. Tell Dick to call for me early on Sunday.” 

When he had said good-by to Lorraine and departed, 
Hal held up her hand, hanging in a limp fashion. 

“I wish you’d teach him to shake hands. Lorry. It 
feels like shaking a blind cord and tassel. Are you going 
to mother him ? What an odd idea for you to bother with 
a boy ! You surely don’t mean to tell me he interests you ? ” 

I like to look at him. He’s such a splendid young ani- 
mal. I feel — oh, I don’t know what I feel.” 

Lots of London policemen are splendid young animals, 
but you don’t want tete-a-tete teas with them if they are.” 

You absurd child ! Is there any reason why I 
shouldn’t have tea with Mr. Hermon, if it amuses me ? ” 

^^None specially; but if it’s Just a splendid young ani- 
mal to look at, you want, I dare say it would be safer to im- 
port a polar bear from the Zoo.” 

Lorraine felt a spot of color burn in her cheeks, but she 
only laughed the subject aside, and alluded to it no more 
before they parted at the theater door. 

Only at a late supper party that night she was quieter 
than was her wont; and, contrary to her habit, one of the 
first to leave. A well-known rising politician, who had been 
paying her much attention of late, prepared, as usual, to 
escort her home. She wished he would have stayed behind, 
but had no sufficient reason for refusing his company. He 
taxed her with silence as they spun westward, and she 
pleaded a headache, wondering a little why all he said, and 
looked, and did, somehow seemed banal and irritating to- 
night. 

He was so sure of himself, so fashionably blase, so care- 
lessly clever, so daringly frank, with all the finished air of 
the modern smart man, basking callously in the assured 
fact of his own brilliance and superiority. She knew that 


WINDING PATHS 


67 


most women would envy her the attentions of such a one, 
and that his interest was undoubtedly a great compli- 
ment, as such compliments go; but to-night she found 
herself remembering all the other women who had reigned 
before her, all those who would presently succeed her, 
and she was conscious of an impatient disgust of all 
the shallowness and insincerity of the fashionable, success- 
ful man. 

“ May I come in ? ” he asked, when they reached the flat, 
looking rather as if he were conferring a favor than solicit- 
ing one. 

No ; it is too late. Good night.” 

Too late ! . . .” He laughed a little, and Lorraine felt 
her temper rising. It is not exceptionally late, a little 
earlier than usual, in fact. Why mayn’t I come in ? ” 

Because I don’t want you,” she said coldly, and she 
saw him bite his lip in swift vexation. 

^‘1 shall certainly not press you,” he retorted, and 
turned away. 

At the window of her drawing-room Lorraine lingered 
a few moments, gazing with a half-longing expression at 
the gleam of the lights on the dark flowing river. What 
was it that gave her that strange sense of heartache to- 
night ? Why had her usual companions bored and irritated 
her? Why did Alymer Hermon’s fine, boyish, refreshing 
face come so often to her mind ? 

She was certainly not in love with him. The mere idea 
was ridiculous, but it was equally certain that something 
about him had given rise to this vague unrest and longing. 
Was it perhaps that he called to her mind the youth she had 
never known, the young, splendid, whole-hearted years, 
when it was so easy to believe and hope and enjoy that 
which life had never given her time for ? 

True, the world was at her feet now, just as much as it 
would ever be at his, but with what a difference ! For her, 
with the work and stain of the knowledge of much evil, and 


68 


WINDING PATHS 


little good. For him, at present, with all the glorious fresh- 
ness of the morning. 

She glanced back into the dim room, and among the 
shadows she saw him standing there again, towering up 
upon her hearth rug, before her hearth, with that youthful, 
frank assurance that was so attractive. Of a truth he was 
unspoiled yet, unspoiled and splendid as the dawn of the 
morning— but for how long ? 

What would they make of him presently, the women of 
the world, who must needs worship such a man, and strew 
their charms before him. How was he to keep his freshness, 
when temptations hemmed him in on every side ? 

She felt a sudden yearning as of hungry mother-love to- 
ward him. If he had been her son, her very own son, how 
she would have fought the whole world to help him keep his 
armor bright, and his colors flying high ! 

And instead ? . . . 

The wave of hungry mother-love was followed by one 
as of swift and angry protest. Who had ever cared whether 
she kept her armor bright and her colors flying high ? Had 
not life itself mocked at her early aspirations, and trampled 
jeeringly on her untutored, unformed high desires? What 
chance had she ever had, long as she might, to keep the 
morning freshness? 

Well, what of it? She had sought and striven for fame, 
and fame had come; she was a poor creature if she could 
not look life in the face now, and laugh above her wounds. 

And in the meantime perhaps she could help him flght 
some of those other women still; the women who would 
drag him down for their own satisfaction, and care nothing 
for the hurt to him. 

Anyhow, she would try to be a good pal to him, and not 
a temptress. For once she would flght for some one else’s 
hand instead of her own, and gain what satisfaction she 
could in feeling herself a true friend. 


CHAPTER VIII 


About the time that the three in the Chelsea flat were 
leave-taking, a stream of women clerks in the long passages 
of the General Post Office proclaimed that pressure of work 
had again meant overtime ” to these energetic city ‘ 
workers. 

In consequence, there was a lack of elasticity in the 
many passing feet, and the suggestion of a tired silence in 
the cloakroom; for, though the girls hastened to get away 
from the dreary monotony of the huge building, they were, 
many of them, too tired to depart as joyfully as was their 
wont. 

Yet most of them, behind the tiredness, looked out upon 
the world with clear, capable eyes, and strong, self-reliant 
faces, that spoke well for the spirit of their set. Up there 
in the big office rooms, year in year out, these reflned, well- 
educated women kept ledgers and accounts and did the gen- 
eral office work of the Civil Service with a precision and 
neatness and correctness equal to the work of any men, and 
invariably to the astonishment of any interested visitor who 
was permitted to inquire into the system. 

Yet the majority of their salaries ranged from £9‘0 a 
year to £120, and they were obliged to pass an examination 
of no mean stamp to attain a post. Small wonder that 
many of them, having to help support others as well as keep 
themselves, had the delicate, listless, anaemic appearance 
of underfed women badly in need of fresh air, good food, 
and wholesome exercise. 

The policy of Great Britain toward her women workers 
is surely one of the greatest contradictions of our enlight- 

69 


70 


WINDING PATHS 


ened age. Even putting aside the vexed question of suffrag- 
ism, how little has she ever done to try and cope with the 
needs of working womanhood ? 

In some Government departments, as, for instance, the 
Army Clothing Department, it is a known fact that the 
women are actually sweated; and that in the higher 
branches, employing gentlewomen, they pay them the lowest 
possible wage, not because the work is ill done, but because, 
owing to present conditions, plenty of gentlewomen are 
found to accept the offer. 

Many of these gentlewomen lose their health in their 
struggle to obtain good food, decent lodging, and a neat 
appearance on Government salaries, knowing full well that 
the moment they fall out of the ranks numbers will be wait- 
ing to fill their places. 

And in the meantime enlightened authors and poli- 
ticians write articles, and make speeches, holding forth 
upon the charm and beauty of the home woman, and draw- 
ing unflattering comparisons between her and the worker. 

Comfortable elderly gentlemen, who have had successful 
careers and can now afford to dine unwisely every night, 
and keep their daughters in well-dressed indolence, self- 
satisfied, self-aggrandizing, self-advertising young poli- 
ticians, who, having obtained an attentive public, delight to 
cant about the rights of the citizen and the good of the Em- 
pire, clever, intuitive, charming novelists, who apparently 
possess an unaccountable vein of dense noncomprehension 
on some points — all harp upon this theme of the home 
woman, and the home sphere, and the infinite superiority, 
in their own lordly eyes, of the gentle, domesticated scion of 
the family hearth. 

As if one fourth of the women wage earners, gentle or 
otherwise, in England to-day had any choice in the matter 
whatever. The rapidity with which a vacant place in the 
ranks is filled and the numbers waiting for it is surely suffi- 
cient proof of that; to say nothing of the pitiful conditions 


WINDING PATHS 


71 


under which many, gentle and otherwise, cling to their 
posts long after a merciful Fate should have given them the 
opportunity to save the remnants of their shattered health 
amid country breezes. 

It is useless to cry out to the woman that work and com- 
petition with men is unbecoming to her. She must work, 
and she must compete, and seeing this, it is surely time the 
British Government accepted the fact magnanimously, and 
took more definite steps to assure her welfare. 

If it can only be done through woman’s suffrage, then 
woman’s suffrage must surely come, because, whether Brit- 
ish legislators care for the good of women or not, nature does 
care, and as the race moves forward the working woman 
will have to be protected. 

It has been seen over and over again that no band of 
politicians, nor powerful men, nor tape-bound state can 
long defy any advancing good for the needs of the whole. 

Whether women work or not, they are the mothers of 
the future ; and because this fact is greater than the sum of 
all other facts brought forward by the narrowness and short- 
sightedness of men, we may safely believe that, since they 
must work, nature will see to it that they work under the 
most favorable conditions, no matter what rich men have 
to go the poorer for it. 

Pity is that the hour is so delayed ; that narrowness, and 
selfishness, and self-aggrandizement still flourish, to the 
eternal cost of those of England’s mothers who bring weak- 
lings into the world, through the hard conditions of their 
enforced labor. 

The true patriot of to-day will agitate not only for the 
highest possible efficiency in the Navy and Army; but, with 
no less resolve and sincerity, for the best possible conditions 
obtainable for all women workers, that the Empire may not 
later sink suddenly to decay, in spite of her defenses, 
through the impoverished, feeble, sickly offspring who are 
all the men she has left. 


72 


WINDING PATHS 


The true patriot will accept the ever-strengthening fact, 
however unpalatable, that the development and emancipa- 
tion of womanhood has brought women to the front as 
workers, to stay; and he will perceive that therefore it is 
incumbent upon the men to endeavor to find that happy 
mean, where they can work together to the advantage of 
both, and to the stability and greatness of a beloved country. 

Only now the women workers toil bravely on, hearten- 
ing each other with jests under conditions in which it is ex- 
tremely likely men would merely cavil and sulk and fill the 
air with their complainings ; dressing themselves daintily 
through personal effort in spite of meager purses ; throwing 
themselves with a splendid joyousness into their few 
precious days of freedom; banding themselves together 
often and often to wring occasional hours of gayety from 
the months of toil; keeping brave eyes to the front and 
brave hearts to the task, while they wait steadfastly for the 
day when their worth shall be appreciated and their claims 
recognized. 

Hastening to the office in the morning, or hastening 
home (probably to cook their own dinner) at night, they 
read those clever, carefully worded articles and speeches by 
the men of power and weight, harping upon the charm and 
beauty and superiority of the home woman; and they 
laugh across to each other with a frank, rather pitying, 
rather irritated laughter, at the extraordinary dull-witted- 
ness of some brilliant brains. 

They wonder gayly how these enlightened, clever gentle- 
men would like it if they all became sweet home women in 
the workhouses, cultivating elegant gardens, and floating 
round in flowing gowns at their expense. 

The men call them ^^new women” with derision, or 
mannish, or unsexed ; but those who have been among them, 
and known them as friends, know that they hold in their 
ranks some of the most generous-hearted, unselfish, big- 
souled women who exist in England to-day; and that it is 


WIjSTDING paths 


73 


just because of that they are able to plod cheerfully on, and 
laugh that indulgent, pitying little laugh, when an out- 
raged man swells with virtuous indignation, and waxes 
eloquent upon their want of womanly attributes. 

Of such as the best of these was Ethel Hayward. Among 
the crowd now hurrying more or less tiredly into the open 
air, she might not have been noticed. So many had white 
faces, dark-circled eyes, shabby-genteel clothing, and just 
a commonplace fairness, that in the throng it was difficult to 
discover distinguishing attributes. 

One had to see her apart, and note the quick, urgent 
step, the independent, lofty poise of her head, and the 
steadfastness of the tired eyes, and firm, strong mouth, to 
feel that life had given her a heavy burden, which only a 
noble soul could have supported with heroism. 

As she left the portals of the General Post Office she 
hesitated a few seconds as to her direction. Should she 
go straight back to the little flat in Holloway, or should she 
go west, and get the drawing paper Basil was wanting ? ” 

Doris could easily get the drawing paper the next day, 
if she chose ; and at the flat Dudley Pritchard would have 
arrived for the evening. She surmised hastily that it was 
extremely probable Doris had made some other engagement 
for herself that she would be unwilling to delay, and that 
Dudley would in nowise regret her own tardy return. 

The last thought caused her eyes to grow a little 
strained, as she walked quickly westward — strained with 
the determination to face the fact unflinchingly, and try to 
overcome the deep, insistent ache it caused. 

But the love of a lifetime is not dismissed at will, and 
looking a little pitifully backward, though she was but 
twenty-eight, Ethel felt she could not remember the time 
when she did not love Dudley Pritchard, though it had per- 
haps only crystallized into the great feature of her life at 
the time when, in silent, heroic endeavor, he had given of 
all he had to win his friend back to life and health. 


74 


WINDING PATHS 


It was Dudley’s careful savings that had paid for the 
great specialist and the big operation; Dudley’s courage 
and devotion that had nerved the stricken man to take up 
the awful burden of perpetual invalidism; Dudley’s never- 
failing encouragement and friendship that helped him still 
to bear the dreary months of utter weariness, in the little 
home kept together by his sister’s salary. 

High up in the dreary-looking block of flats in Hollo- 
way, attended through the day by the erratic ministrations 
of Doris, and at night by the yearning tenderness of Ethel, 
Basil Hayward dragged out a weary martyrdom, that prayed 
only for release. In vain Ethel murmured over him, that 
to work for him was a glory compared to what it would be 
to live without him ; in the silent, tedious hours of her ab- 
sence, his soul broke itself in hopeless, passionate protest 
against the decree that compelled him to accept his daily 
bread at the hands of the sister he would gladly have striven 
for day and night. 

It was a martyrdom across which one can but draw a 
curtain, and stand eyes front.” Look this way, look that, 
what answer is there, what reason, what explanation, of the 
hidden martyrdoms of the work-a-day world, which the 
blank wall of heaven seems to regard with utter unconcern ? 

Mankind to-day is less disposed than ever of yore to 
calmly fold the hands and say, It is the will of God.” 
They can no longer do so honestly without either blaming 
or criticising the Divine Will that not merely permits, but 
is said to send, such martyrdoms. 

Better surely to accept bravely the enigma of the uni- 
verse, and strive to lessen the suffering in our own little 
sphere, believing that same Divine Will is striving with 
us to mitigate the ills humanity has brought upon itself 
through blind disobedience and careless indifference to the 
laws of nature. 

Uncomplaining resignation may help by its example, 
but the resignation which sits with folded hands and makes 


WINDING PATHS 


75 


no effort to amend, is only a form of feebleness. The strong 
soul accepts life silently as a field of battle, asking for en- 
ergy, resource, courage, and that fine spirit which obeys the 
unseen general in unquestioning faith. 

It was only in such a spirit, through those years of pain 
and mystery, that Ethel was able to witness her passionately 
loved brother’s martyrdom, and give all the years of her 
youth to earn that poor salary from a wealthy Empire, to 
keep some sort of a home for the three of them in the little, 
dingy Holloway flat. 

For even if Doris had been capable of sustained en- 
deavor, the bedridden man could not have been left alone 
for long, and no choice was left them but to eke out Ethel’s 
pitiful £110 salary between them. 

Often perhaps a passionate resentment burned in her 
heart concerning the heavy handicaps under which a woman 
achieves work equal to a man’s ; but she had no time to lend 
herself to any open protest, and toiled on, silently fighting 
her individual daily battle the better encouraged by those 
brave women taking all the opprobrium of the warfare upon 
their own shoulders, for the sake of working womanhood as 
a whole. 

Only, of late a fresh burden had been added in the fear 
that Dudley was growing to care for her sister Doris. 

It was not that she grudged Doris the happiness, nor the 
prospect of a home in which she and Dudley might together 
take care of Basil; but she saw ahead the tragedy of the 
awakening, when Dudley learned of the shallow, selfish 
little heart behind Doris’s charming exterior. 

That he, of all people, should be drawn to such an one 
was only the contradiction seen on all sides in life. Be- 
cause he had that old-fashioned distrust of the independent, 
self-reliant woman, he must needs go to the opposite ex- 
treme, and let himself be drawn to one capable of little else 
in the world but ornamentation. Doris, she knew, was fitted 
only to be a rich man’s plaything. Dudley, she felt in- 
c 


76 


WINDING PATHS 


stinctively, would start off by expecting of her things she 
had never had to give, and in his dismay and disappoint- 
ment might wreck both their lives. 

Yet she felt powerless to take any step that might save 
them from each other, knowing full well that Doris, bored 
with her life at the flat, had decided that even life with 
Dudley would be better. And even as Ethel hastened west- 
ward, instead of toward home, Doris with infinite pains 
put the finishing touches to her pretty hair, and took a last 
survey of her dainty person before the well-known step 
should sound on the stone staircase outside their unpre- 
tentious little door. 

She had been very irritable with the invalid, because he 
was trying to get a plan copied quickly, and wanted a special 
arrangement of light, just when she was ready to go and 
dress after preparing the dinner; but when at last Dudley 
knocked on the door, Doris opened it to him with a face 
of such charming innocence and smiles that irritability 
would never have been imagined in the repertoire of 
her characteristics. A little helpless, a little childish, she 
might be, but what clever man does not love a clinging 
woman ? 

It was so nice of you to come,” she said. It is such 
a dreary place to turn out to after your long day at the 
office.” 

But I love coming,” he answered simply. You know 
I do.” 

He looked at her with unconscious admiration, and 
Doris noted for the hundredth time that although he was 
not particularly tall, nor particularly good-looking, nor 
particularly anything, yet his thin, clean-shaven face had a 
clever, distinguished air, and he had unmistakably the cut 
and breeding of a gentleman. She knew that even if he were 
only moderately well off, and could not afford the dash she 
loved, he was at least good to be seen with, and a man who 
might one day make his mark. So, though she deprecated 


WINDING PATHS 


77 


most of the qualities which were in reality his best points, 
she decided in her calculating little head she would seriously 
contemplate becoming Mrs. Dudley Pritchard. 

His greeting with the invalid was, for Dudley, a little 
boisterous — the result of a hint from Ethel. He would 
probably never have had time to see for himself that such 
a man as Basil Hayward would hate a pitying air or invalid 
manner, but he was sympathetic enough to respond quickly 
to a suggestion that the latest cricket or football news, gayly 
imparted, was far more pleasing to the invalid than a sym- 
pathetic inquiry after his health. 

For Basil Hayward, sufferer and martyr, was prouder 
of his near relationship to a celebrated international 
cricketer than he would ever have been of his own sublime 
courage had it been lauded to the skies. Life had left him 
little enough, but give me the power still to glory in every 
manly and athletic achievement of my countrymen,” was 
his unspoken request. 

So they discussed the latest sporting news of the world, 
and then had a great argument on a plan of Dudley’s for a 
competition for a grand stand and pavilion on a celebrated 
aviation ground, while they waited for Ethel. 

The small flat had only one sitting room, and while they 
talked Doris flitted gracefully about, putting the finishing 
touches to the table. Afterwards she sat on a low chair un- 
der the lamp, so that the light fell full on her pretty hair, 
while she bowed her head with unwonted industry over a 
piece of sewing. 

Occasionally she glanced up at the two men, meeting 
Dudley’s eyes with a pretty confiding look that only added 
to her charm. 

Ethel is so late. I wonder if we had better wait,” she 
said at last. She told me on no account to do so.” 

Basil glanced at the clock a little anxiously. 

It is too bad,” he murmured ; they have no right to 
expect so much overtime work. She is sure to come soon.” 


78 


WINDING PATHS 


''Yes; but I think she would like us to begin’’; and 
Doris rose slowly. It will save time when she does come 
in.” 

It was plain Basil disapproved, but she pretended not 
to see it, and in a short time she and Dudley were seated 
tete-a-tete, while the invalid remained on his couch. They 
were gay from spontaneity of pleasure, and Hal would have 
been surprised at the cheeriness of her grave brother, had 
she seen how he responded to Doris’s playful mood. 

Then Ethel’s key sounded in the door, and it was as 
though a slight shadow fell upon them. Doris wished she 
had been later still; Dudley seemed to grow grave again, 
from habit, and Basil watched the door like a big devoted 
dog, with eyes of hungry love. 

As she entered her first glance was for him, and her nod 
and smile ere she turned to greet the visitor hid all her own 
weariness, and was reflected in a light of glad welcome on 
the sick man’s face. 

" I’m so glad you didn’t wait,” she said ; " I stayed to 
get the drawing paper.” 

" But why did you, dear ? ” he asked, with quick remon- 
strance. " Doris could easily have gone to-morrow.” 

" Of course I could ” ; and Doris skillfully threw a hurt 
tone into her voice, which Dudley was quick to detect. 

" I wanted the walk,” was all Ethel said, as she moved 
away to take off her hat and coat. 

But in spite of her efforts the gayety did not return, and 
Doris grew a little pensive and sad. 

Dudley, with his surface reasoning, saw in her attitude 
something that suggested the other two were in the habit 
of being entirely wrapped up in each other, to the exclusion 
of the young sister. 

Ethel might be a remarkably clever and capable woman : 
he knew perfectly well that she was just as able with her 
fingers as her brain, and did nearly all the upholstering and 
dressmaking of the household in her evening free time; 


WINDING PATHS 


79 


but wasn’t she just a little superior and self-satisfied also — 
just a little unkindly indifferent to the monotony and dull- 
ness of her young sister’s existence ? 

Dudley found his sympathy go out more and more to 
those childlike eyes, and the pretty, clinging ways; and a 
sort of half-fledged resentment grew up against the elder 
sister. He could not choose but admire her, if it were only 
for her devotion to her brother, but he felt a vague some- 
thing, in his thoughts of her, that he could not express, and 
remained grave. 

Ethel, watching them both covertly while she moved 
about helping Doris to clear away the dinner things, guessed 
at much that was passing in his mind, and unconsciously 
grew a little strained in her manner to him. That he 
should pity Doris and blame her seemed a last irony, but it 
could not be helped ; and not even to win his love could she 
attempt to change her natural manner, and appear what 
might better please him. 

She even said ^^good night” a little coldly, and re- 
mained beside Basil while Doris went out into the tiny hall 
with him to get his hat and coat. 

Doris seemed to Dudley a lonely little figure out there 
in the dim light, with just the suggestion of a droop about 
her lips and wistfulness in her eyes. He believed that she 
found herself left out in the cold with those other two, but 
was too proud to complain. He felt a tenderness springing 
up in his heart and spreading to his eyes as he leaned to- 
ward her with a protecting air. 

She was small and fragile. It made him feel big and 
protective; and he liked it. Hal was so tall and straight 
and slim and boyish — ^not in the least the sort of person one 
could really feel protective to ; and he liked clinging women. 
. . . His head bent down quite near to hers as he said in a 
low tone : I suppose they are like lovers, those two, and 
you feel a little out of it, eh ? ” 

Yes ” — confidingly and gratefully — and it makes me 


80 


WIN'DING PATHS 


very unhappy, because I love to slave for Basil just as mu^h 
as Ethel does. But he does not want me . . with a little 
sad air. 

Oh, I think you are mistaken. It could never be that. 
It is only that they have always been so devoted, and I ex- 
pect it is too lonely for you here. You do not get enough 
change. Would you care to go to the White City with me 
on Thursday evening ? ” 

Oh, I should love it ! and there was a quick gleam 
in her eyes. 

Very well, I will arrange it.’’ His hand closed over 
hers lingeringly. Good-by. Don’t be despondent. I will 
let you know where to meet me. We might have dinner at a 
restaurant first ; shall we ? ” 

Again she expressed her delight, and Dudley went off 
with a glow of pleasure that was a surprise to him. 

But behind the closed door Doris smiled a little smile 
in the darkness, that had none of the artless innocence of the 
smiles reserved for him. 

Ethel would just give her head to go with him,” was 
her first thought ; and then, I hope he won’t go to a cheap 
restaurant.” 

In the sitting room Ethel was putting the last touches 
to the invalid’s comfort for the night, moving about busily. 
Doris leaned against the table, and made no attempt to 
help her. 

Dudley wants me to go to the White City with him 
on Thursday evening. I said I would.” 

Thursday is the night I have to go and see Dr. Een- 
shaw”; and Ethel glanced round with a shadow of vexa- 
tion on her face. 

I know it is, but you will not be very late.” She 
paused, then added, I do not get so many treats that I 
can afford to miss one.” 

Dudley could probably have gone any other night. 
Did you ask him ? ” 


WINDING PATHS 


81 


Ethel spoke a little quickly, and Doris looked ready 
with a sharp retort, when Basil interposed. 

Thursday will be all right, chum. Doris won’t leave 
before six and you will get in by half-past seven. I shall 
have nearly two whole hours in which to do any silly thing 
I like, without getting scolded”; and his smile was very 
winsome. 

^^I don’t like you to have to wait so long for your 
dinner. You always get faint. Perhaps Dr. Eenshaw 
would see me another evening . . . I ” 

Oh, nonsense, chum ” — in the same cheery voice — 
I’ll have a tin of sardines, and eat one every ten minutes 
until you come.” 

Ethel let the matter drop, seeing it would please him 
best, and Doris retired to their room with a slightly sulky 
air. 

There always seems to be something to damp it if 
I am to have a treat,” was her complaint. 

don’t think you will feel damped after you start,” '' 
Ethel replied quietly, and they went to bed in silence. 


CHAPTEE IX 


When Dudley got back he found Hal waiting up for 
him^ with an expression of shining eagerness on her face. 

Oh, Dudley, such fun ! ’’ she began, Lorraine has 
got the royal box for me for Thursday evening. We 
must have a little dinner party. Who shall we take? 
It holds four comfortably, and two men could stand at 
the back.’^ 

Thursday evening ? looking a little taken aback. 
‘^I am engaged.” 

Engaged! Well, you must put it off. Why didn’t 
you tell me? I thought you said you had any night free 
except Friday.” 

I only made the engagement this evening.” 

‘‘Are you going to see Basil again? He won’t mind 
being put off.” 

“No. It isn’t Basil.” 

“What then?” 

Dudley turned away, threw his gloves carelessly down 
on a side table, and picked up some letters. 

“ I asked Doris to go to the White City with me.” 

“You — ^you asked Doris to go to the White City ? . . .” 
she repeated incredulously. “ What in the world for ? ” 

“To see it, of course. What else should I ask her 
for?” 

“ Oh, Heaven only knows ! Why ask her at all ? I 
should certainly upset her into the canal from sheer irrita- 
tion if she came with me.” 

“ Such nonsense.” He knit his forehead into a decided 
82 


WINDING PATHS 


83 


frown. You are so unfair to Doris. You used to com- 
plain that I was unfair to Lorraine. I was never as 
unfair as you are now. You don’t really know Doris at 
all ; and she has never done anything to hurt you.” 

It doesn’t follow that she wouldn’t if she had the 
chance. You’re so awfully dense about women, Dudley. 
Why didn’t you invite Ethel instead? She is worth a 
hundred Dorises. Then we could have taken her to the 
theater.” 

His voice and manner grew very cold. 

I don’t agree with you, but it is not a subject I care 
to discuss. Is there any reason why Doris should not be 
invited to the theater ? ” 

^^None whatever, except that I don’t propose to ask 
her.” 

They faced each other a moment almost angrily, except 
that whereas Dudley was distinctly vexed, Hal was a little 
scornful, and half laughing. 

Then I cannot come either, and ” — he paused a mo- 
ment, to add with decision — I object to your going un- 
chaperoned.” 

Do you mean that you wish me to give up the box ? ” 

^^You know what I mean.” 

Hal was thoughtful a moment, and then remarked with 
sudden glee: 

I know what I’ll do. I’ll take the Three Graces, 
and persuade Quin’s aunt to come as chaperon. Then 
we’ll all have supper with Lorraine afterwards. You shall 
have a nice, quiet, interesting evening with Doris, and I’ll 
get two stalls for you for another night.” 

She moved about, gathering up her things. 

^^You don’t know Quin’s aunt. Lady Bounce, do you? 
She’s the dearest old soul, and she loves a theater. Night- 
night, old boy; don’t keep Doris too long near the canal, 
in case you are taken with my inclination ” ; and she went 
gayly off, humming a popular air. 


84 


WINDING PATHS 


Dudley read through his letters without grasping any 
of their contents. For the first time HaPs attitude to 
Doris seriously worried him, and he felt vaguely there 
was trouble ahead. 

But when Thursday came, and they were together, 
she again had the same pleasing effect upon his senses, 
and he let himself be persuaded that if Hal grew to know 
her better, she could not choose but grow fond of her. 

In the meantime a group in the royal box at the Green- 
way Theater was causing no small interest to a crowded 
house. 

There was Hal, with her smart, well-groomed air, 
gleaming white neck and arms, and her white, even teeth 
that looked so attractive even in the distance when she 
smiled. 

Dick Bruce, spruce and scholarly, hugely pleased with 
himself, because he had an article in The National Review, 
on the strength of the colonies in war time; and some 
lines entitled Baby’s Boredom ” in Fireside Chat, con- 
cerning which he had already announced his intention 
of standing the champagne for their supper with the 
check. 

Of the other two occupants it would be difficult to say 
which attracted the most attention. Al3rtner Hermon, with 
his immense stature and splendid head, or Quin’s aunt. 
Lady Bounce, who presented so striking a resemblance to 
another well-known little old lady sometimes seen at the 
theater, that friends of the last-mentioned were utterly 
puzzled. 

Surely only one little lady in London wore that early 
Victorian dress, with the ringlets and grande dame air, 
and sat with such genuine delight and enjoyment through 
a play. And yet why did she not look out for her nu- 
merous friends, down there in the stalls, and recognize 
them? 

And whom in the world was she with? If that were 


WINDIJ^G PATHS 


85 


indeed Lady Phyllis Penton — and it seemed incredible 
it should not be — who was the splendid young giant, and 
who the white-faced girl with the brilliant smile? 

And all the time, absorbed in the play and her com- 
panions, the little old lady smiled and talked, calmly in- 
different to the many eyes below waiting for the expected 
bow of recognition. 

Quin, apparently, had not been willing to desert his 
slummers for a gay West-end theater ; so Hal was only es- 
corted by two Graces instead of three, but the light in her 
eyes, for anyone near enough to see, suggested she was 
enjoying herself to the utmost in spite of it. 

Then came the final sensation, of the little old lady in 
her strange costume and ringlets, passing through the ves- 
tibule, on the arm of the young giant, followed by the 
sleek-looking, well-groomed pair of cousins, who chatted 
to each other with an air of the utmost unconcern toward 
the curious glances now leveled at them upon all sides. 

It must be Lady Phyllis Fenton,” said some. It 
can't be,” said others. Then who the devil is it ? ” asked 
the men. 

And still the little group passed on, smiling and un- 
concerned, though a red spot burned in the giant’s smooth 
cheeks, and he carefully avoided any possibility of meeting 
Hal’s gleaming eyes. 

A roomy electric brougham was awaiting them, and 
then the watchers said as it glided away : Surely that is 
Lady Phyllis’s car and liveries.” 

But what they would have made of the scene inside the 
car it is difficult to say, for the dear little old lady suddenly 
collapsed backward on her seat, with a howl of laughter, 
and shot into the air a pair of trousered legs. 

Oh, my conscience ! ” gasped Quin, amid choking 
laughter. It will be the sensation of the season; and 
when Aunt Phyllis gets to hear about it she’ll first have 
a fit with wrath and then laugh until she’s ill.” 


86 


WINDING PATHS 


I’d no idea you were such an actor, Quin/’ Hal ex- 
claimed admiringly when she could speak ; you ought to be 
holding crowded houses enthralled, instead of slumming.” 

Heaven preserve me. Theaters are mostly mummies 
looking at mummies. Down East I get in touch with flesh 
and blood — ^the real thing ; and I prefer it. But I wouldn’t 
have missed to-night for something. Oh, lord ! . . . just 
think of the people who know Aunt Phyllis that I must 
have cut; and all tlie fuss there will be when aunt is ad- 
monished for supping at the Savoy with an actress ! We 
aren’t half through the fun yet.” 

With which they all went off into fresh peals of laugh- 
ter, at various reminiscences, and were bordering upon a 
condition of imbecility when Lorraine at last joined them 
with the latest news. 

^^It’s positively immense,” she said. ^^The manager 
told me Lady Phyllis Fenton had come with Miss Pritch- 
ard, and to-morrow every paper will announce it, and the 
mystery will grow. I ’phoned for a private room at the 
Savoy, to keep the puzzle up. She must only be seen pass- 
ing through on Mr. Hermon’s arm. How splendid they 
must look. I almost wish I wasn’t in the secret.” 

Oh, they do ! ” Hal cried. Alymer ought to have 
had knee breeches and silk stockings, and they would look 
just perfect. I have to talk fast to Dick, or I should give 
it all away in my face.” 

You’ll have to settle with your aunt,” Lorraine 
laughed to Quin. ^^I hope she won’t cut you off with a 
shilling.” 

She will be furiously angry and terriflcally inter- 
ested,” he said. I expect I shall have to take you all to 
dinner to show her what the party looked like. Of course. 
Bonne, her maid, will give it away, because I borrowed the 
garments from her, and said they were for a play I was 
getting up in the East End.” 

You’ll have a bad half hour with Dudley,” Dick re- 


WINDING PATHS 


87 


marked to Hal, with enjoyment. He is sure to hear of 
it somewhere.’’ 

“ Quite sure,” resignedly ; but if it were a bad two 
hours it would still have been worth it. It reminds me of 
the old days at school, Lorraine, when we used to get into 
scrapes on purpose, if the fun made it worth while.” 

There was no gayer supper party in the Savoy that 
night, and the champagne paid for with the proceeds of 
Baby’s Boredom ” proved none the less vivifying for 
the insipidity of its source. Dick insisted upon reciting his 
doggerel, and Quin was not only much toasted as Lady 
Bounce,” but carried kicking round the room by the giant, 
because in a moment of forgetfulness he used a swear- word, 
which they all insisted was a reflection upon the conversa- 
tion of his illustrious aunt. 

Lorraine, in most amusing form herself, laughed until 
she was tired out, and wondered why she was not bored. 
She asked the question of Alymer Hermon, who was 
privileged to see her home, while Dick returned with Hal, 
and Quin beat a hasty retreat to get rid of his disguise. 

After all, you are only boys,” she said, with a little 
smile, and I’m . . . well, I’m Lorraine Vivian.” 

The giant gazed thoughtfully out of the brougham win- 
dow a moment, and from her corner Lorraine looked long, 
and a little sadly, at the flnely modeled head and profile. 

Perhaps,” he said at length, a great many people 
you meet make a special effort to please you, and try to 
make an impression on you. We being all so young, and 
just nobodies, realize the uselessness of wasting our efforts, 
and are merely natural.” 

She smiled in the shadow, and glanced away from him 
with the sadness deepening. 

I feel to-night I should like to be one of you — so 
young and just nobody. It would be a pleasant change.” 

I don’t think you would like it at all.” 

He looked at her with a slightly puzzled air. 


88 


WINDING PATHS 


Only the other day you were speaking to me of achieve- 
ment and ambition. You seemed to care so much. You 
must be glad.^^ 

Oh, yes, yes,” wearily ; but it isn’t enough by itself. 
There is something I have missed, and to-night I feel that 
it might outweigh all the rest — something to do with being 
young, and careless, and fresh, and just nobody.” 

Still looking at her with slightly puzzled, very kindly 
eyes, he answered simply, I’m so sorry.” 

She seemed to shrink away suddenly into her corner. 
The very simplicity of his sympathy, and the quiet, natural 
friendliness in his face, stirred some strange chord in her 
heart with a swift, unaccountable ache. He looked so big 
and strong and splendid there in the shadow, with his fresh- 
ness and his charm; and she felt very brain-fagged and 
world-weary; and without in the least knowing why, or 
what led up to the desire, she wanted to feel his arms about 
her, and his freshness soothing her spirit. 

And instead he was not even attempting to make love to 
her, not even flirting with her. Would any other man she 
knew have ridden beside her thus after the gentleness she 
had shown? Was that perhaps the very secret of his attrac- 
tion? Or was it a physical allurement — the irresistible 
charm of bigness and strength, independent of anything 
else, drawing with its time-old sway ? 

She had no time to probe further, as the brougham 
stopped at her door. He handed her out with the deference 
so often met with in big men, remarking with an old- 
fashioned air that suited him to perfection : 

“ I’m afraid we have all tired you very much. It was 
good of you to come with us. I can’t tell you how much we 
appreciate it.” 

Oh, indeed no ; you refreshed me. Good night. 
Stevens will run you home. Don’t forget Sunday ” ; and 
she moved away. 

It must be his bigness,” was her last thought as her 


WINDING PATHS 


89 


head touched the pillow. When I am used to it, no doubt 
the novelty will pass, and I shall find him merely boyish, 
and be rather bored.” 

I wonder if it is her dainty smallness,” Dudley was 
musing, away in his Bloomsbury lodging, feeling still, with 
a pleasant thrill, the touch of Doris’s small hand on his 
arm, and seeing again the upward, confiding expression in 
her wide blue eyes. “ Odd that Hal should be so far astray 
in her judgment, when she is usually so clever; but if she 
knew her better she would change her mind.” 

As for Hal herself, she hastily tumbled into bed, still 
chuckling in huge enjoyment over her evening. 

“ Those boys are just dears,” was her thought, and 
I wouldn’t have missed Lady Bounce for the world. What 
a good thing Dudley was taken with a paternal affection 
for that little fool Doris, and I had to have a chaperon. 
Heigh-ho ! what a scene there will be if he hears about it; 
but what’s the odds so long as you’re happy ? And oh, dear ! 
what will Lady Phyllis Fenton say when she finds out”; 
and once more the even teeth flashed an irresistible smile 
into the darkness. 


CHAPTER X 


It was force of habit chiefly that caused Lorraine, as a 
rule, to sleep long and late on Sunday mornings ; and it was 
greatly to her advantage that for so many months, and even 
years, no mental anxiety had robbed her of a splendid 
capacity to rest. She seemed to have a faculty for limiting 
her worrying hours to the daylight, and being able to lay 
them aside, like her correspondence, at night. 

Yet on the following Sunday morning she found herself 
early awake, with a brain only too ready to begin probing 
restlessly, and having little of the calm friendliness she 
intended it should have toward her guest of the evening. 

To add to her unrest, her mother paid her an early 
visit, of a sort that had been growing too frequent of late. 
It was not enough that Lorraine paid her rent, and gave 
her a handsome allowance; when there chanced to be no 
one else to pay her debts, these came upon Lorraine’s 
shoulders also. 

To-day it was a long, rambling tale of a hard-hearted 
dressmaker who, having had a new frock back for altera- 
tion, had taken upon herself to return the skirt, without 
the bodice, with an intimation that she was retaining the 
delayed portion until her long account was settled. Hence 
Mrs. Vivian found herself with what she called a most im- 
portant engagement, without the equally important new 
frock to go in. 

Lorraine lay under the bedclothes, with only her head 
showing, and watched her a little coldly, as she moved rest- 

90 


WmDT^TG PATHS 


91 


lessly about the room airing her woes. She had promised 
Madame Luce, over and over again, to settle in a week or 
two ; and who would have believed the odious woman would 
serve her such a trick ? 

Never again, if she had to go naked, would she order a 
garment from her of any description whatever. And the 
friends she had sent to her as customers ! Why, half the 
woman^s trade was owing to her introduction. 

“ Perhaps the friends don’t pay their bills,” Lorraine 
suggested in a tired voice. 

Mrs. Vivian drew herself up a little haughtily. 

I do not think there is any occasion to cast reflections 
on my friends, even if you do not choose to be sociable to 
them,” which remark was intended as a dignified hit at 
Lorraine’s invincible determination to maintain friendly 
relations with her mother, without having anything what- 
ever to do with her mother’s friends. 

As many previous hits, it fell quite harmlessly ; it was 
doubtful if Lorraine even heard it, half hidden there in the 
bedclothes with her tired eyes. 

suppose it isn’t any use reminding you that your 
personal expenditure exceeds mine ? ” she hinted, and 
that you have already far overstepped the allowance we 
stipulated ? ” 

You do not have time to go about as much as I do, and 
it makes a great difference not having hosts of friends.” 

You don’t seem to get much pleasure out of them,” 
Lorraine could not resist saying, knowing as she did how 
much of her salary went into the pockets of these so-called 
friends, in order to buy their adherence. 

Do I get much pleasure out of anything?” irritably. 

My only child is one of the first actresses in London, and 
what is it to me? Do I have the pleasure of going about 
with her? or living with her? or taking any part in her 
success ? ” 

“ I suppose it isn’t such a small thing to live by her. If 
7 


92 


WINDING PATHS 


I were not successful, we could certainly not live here. 
It might have been Islington and omnibuses/’ and she 
smiled. 

As if that were all. Probably, as real companions we 
might have been even happier in Islington.” 

Lorraine stiffened. “ Companions ! . . . Ah, I, with 
whom else ever dancing attendance, and changing in iden- 
tity every few months ? ” 

But she made no comment, for the days of her hot- 
headed, deep-hearted judging were over; and from behind 
inscrutable eyes she looked upon the things that one sees 
without seeming to see them, and accepted facts that hurt 
her very soul, with a callous, cynical air that defied the 
keenest shafts of probing. 

It was her armor in an envious, merciless world, that 
would have rejoiced before her eyes if it could have driven 
in a barbed arrow even through her mother. 

More than once a jealous enemy had tried and failed, 
routed utterly by Lorraine’s cynical, cool treatment of a 
fact that she knew no persuasion nor arguing could have 
helped her to refute. She did not even weep about it now 
in secret. 

It was as though she had shed all the tears she had to 
shed during that year of utter revulsion spent in the Italian 
Eiviera, companioned by the passionless solitudes of snow- 
topped mountains. Something of a great patience and a 
great gentleness had come to her then, helping her to hide 
the loathing she could not crush, and place the fact of 
motherhood first of all. 

As her mother, she had taken Mrs. Vivian back into her 
heart, and given her generously of what worldly possessions 
she had. And she had done it with a wondrous quiet and 
absence of all ostentation either outwardly or inwardly. It 
had never occurred to Lorraine that, whether it was a duty 
or not, after what had passed it was certainly a fine act upon 
her part. 


WINDING PATHS 


93 


She had not questioned about it at all. To her mother’s 
apologetic gush she had merely turned calm eyes and a 
strong face. 

“It isn’t worth while to remember the past at all,” 
she had said ; “ we will just begin again on rather differ- 
ent lines. I’ll always let you have as much money as I 
can spare.” 

Mrs. Vivian had been a little taken aback by the new 
Lorraine who returned from Italy; and not a little afraid 
before the calm, inscrutable eyes; so that she had secretly 
rejoiced at the arrangement which gave her a separate estab- 
lishment of her own ; but none the less, in bursts of righteous 
indignation supposed to emanate from her outraged feel- 
ings as a mother, she usually chose to make it her pet 
grievance. 

And still Lorraine only smiled the tired smile, and 
glanced carelessly aside with the inscrutable eyes until 
the tirade was over, the coveted check made out, and her own 
little sanctum once again in peaceful possession. 

Only just occasionally, if the interview had been spe- 
cially trying, she might have been seen afterwards to glance 
whimsically across to the picture, recently enlarged from 
an old photograph, of a fine-looking man in full hunting 
rig standing beside a favorite hunter. 

“ Poor old dad,” she murmured once ; “ I don’t wonder 
you couldn’t keep up the old place. I don’t know how you 
got along at all without my salary.” 

Once when she was feeling the drag of it all a little 
keenly she told the man in the picture : “ Mother is splen- 
didly handsome, and I dare say I owe her a good deal ; but 
thank God you were there with your fine old name and 
family to give me the things that matter most. It some- 
times seems as if we had got each other still, dad, and, for 
the rest, some are frail in one way and some another, and 
fretting doesn’t help anyone.” The fine eyes had grown 
more whimsically wistful looking into the face of the hunts- 
man as she finished : “ Anyhow, the last favorite is second 


94 


WINDING PATHS 


cousin to a duke, and, as she pointed out to me, he might 
have been only a butcher.” 

How much Hal knew of her mother’s life Lorraine had 
never been able to gauge, but she had reason to think she 
knew something and was sporting enough to pretend other- 
wise. If so, she blessed her for it, feeling that by that gen- 
erous nonacknowledgment she rendered a service both to 
her and her dead father. 

Yet it seemed strange that anyone so young and fresh 
as Hal should be able to act thus, instead of suffering a 
violent repulsion. Was it the depth of her splendid friend- 
ship ; or was it a naturally adaptable, common-sense nature ; 
or was it noncomprehension ? 

As time passed and she grew to know Hal yet better, 
she felt instinctively it was the first of these, coupled with 
that true sportsman-spirit which was one of her strongest 
attributes. 

Lorraine was not the only one who felt that whether 
Hal had any religion or not, or any faith, through good and 
ill, by easy paths and difficult, one might be absolutely 
sure that she would ‘^play the game.” It made her feel 
herself richer with her one friend than with her mother’s 
admitted hosts, and though she seemed to hesitate and reason 
on that Sunday morning, both knew the check would finally 
be written, and the coveted garment rescued in time for the 
important lunch. 

Only, afterwards, a shadow seemed to linger to-day that 
heretofore would have vanished with the departing figure. 
The sunshine crept through the drawn curtains, lying like 
a shaft of hope across the gloom, but it brought no answer- 
ing gleam into the beautiful eyes, with their tired, far-off 
gaze. 

It was all very well for Hal to be a main feature in her 
life, blessing it with her friendship, wLile she turned kindly, 
unseeing eyes away from the corners where the murky 
shadows lay: Hal, who knew about the mad, discreditable 
marriage and its violent termination, and probably also of 


WIN'DING PATHS 95 

her mother’s insatiable thirst for admiration and excite- 
ment at any cost. 

There was something about Hal in herself that was as a 
shining armor, against which unkind barbs fell harmlessly, 
and enabled her to go on her serene and joyful way in bliss- 
ful nonattention. 

But could it be the same with this treasured only son, 
who was doubtless destined for a high place in the world 
by doting parents, and other proud bearers of the same old 
name? Of course he might sup and trifle with certain 
denizens of the theatrical world galore; it would only be 
part of his education, and a thing to wink at, but she already 
doubted whether such a slight companionship would have 
any attraction. 

In spite of his youthfulness, there was something in 
him that would naturally and quickly respond to the fine 
shades in herself, and grow into a friendship that had no 
part with the casual, gay acquaintanceships of the theater 
and the world. 

In a sense he was like Hal, and she knew that just as she 
attracted Hal’s devotion in spite of all disparity of years 
and circumstances, so, if she chose, she could make this 
young giant more or less her slave. 

But was it worth it ? 

What did she, on her high pedestal, want with his young 
admiration? What did she want with a companion so 
undeveloped that she herself must awaken his strongest 
forces ? 

Through the gloom, unheeding the shaft of sunlight, 
she saw him again, towering up there on her hearth, with 
his young splendor, so extraordinarily unspoiled as yet ; and 
she knew that, reasonable or unreasonable, she was at- 
tracted far beyond her wont. 

And then she thought of his easy-going temperament, 
his lack of ambition, his half-sleepy attitude toward life. 

What if the wheels ran so smoothly for him that the 


96 WINDING PATHS 

latent forces were never aroused^ and little achieved of all 
that might be ? 

If love came at his asking, and a sufficiency of success 
to satisfy an easy-going nature, what would there ever be 
to stir depths which she truly believed were worth stirring ? 
Was it so small a thing to help a fine soul forward to its best 
attainment? . . . Was such an aim not worth some going 
aside for both ? 

She felt there were things she could teach him, which 
without her he might entirely miss ; and if without her he 
were the better according to a conventional standard, he 
might yet be far the poorer in the big, deep things of life. 

Well, no doubt circumstances would end by suiting 
themselves, with or without her agency. In the meantime 
why worry, in a world that it would seem worked out its 
own ends, sublimely indifferent to the individual ? 

They were going to dine together to-night anyhow; 
their first tete-a-tete dinner and evening: time enough to 
probe and worry when she was more sure a mutual attrac- 
tion existed; wiser at present to seek a counter attraction 
for her own sake, that she might not uselessly build a castle 
without foundations. 

Prompt as ever, she reached out for the receiver beside 
her bed and rang up the Albany to know if Lord Denton 
were awake yet. 

I’m not awake,” came back a sleepy answer. I am 
asleep, and dreaming of Lorraine Vivian. If my man wakes 
me now, I shall curse him solidly for half an hour.” 

Well, will you dream you are going to take her for a 
spin into the country shortly? I happen to know she is 
fainting with the longing to breathe country air.” 

In my dream I am already waiting at her door, with 
the Yellow Peril spluttering its heart out with delight, 
and eagerness to be off. I have even dreamed she managed 
to put a motor bonnet on in half an hour — is it conceivable 
— or should it be half a day ? ” 


WINDING PATHS 


97 


No, your dream is right. Be outside the door in half 
an hour, and you will see.” 

An hour later they were spinning out into Surrey at 
an alarming pace, both silently reveling in the freshness 
and motion and the fact that they were too old friends to 
need to trouble about conversation. When they dived into 
the lanes he slowed down, remarking: 

I suppose we mustn’t risk scrunching anyone up.” 
Lorraine only smiled, remaining silent a little longer, and 
then she suddenly asked him: 

When you feel yourself inclined to fall in love fool- 
ishly what do you do ? ” 

Well ... as a rule . . .” he began slowly and hu- 
morously, I either cut and run, or I hurry to see so 
much of her that I am bound to get bored.” 

The first plan sounds the safest, but would often be 
the most difficult of execution. Supposing the second mis- 
carries and you don’t get bored ? ” 

Well, then I think — usually — there is an awful mo- 
ment when I have to tell her I can’t afford both a motor 
and a wife; and to be motorless would kill me.” 

A sudden little twitching at the corners made Lor- 
raine’s mouth dangerously fascinating. 

Evidently you have never fallen in love with me,” 
she said, for you have not been driven to either way of 
escape.” 

He looked into her face with an answering humor, and 
a twinkle in his eyes as alluring as her smiling lips. 

Because when I fell in love with you I did it sensibly, 
and not foolishly,” was his answer ; instinct told me I 
couldn’t have you for my wife however much I wished it, 
so I said to myself : ^ Flip, old boy, she’ll make a thunder- 
ing good pal, you close with it,’ and I did.” 

She made no comment, and he went on more seriously : 

You see, even if you became marriageable and I cut 
out the motor, you wouldn’t be attracted to an ordinary 


98 


WINDING PATHS 


sort of cove like me. I suit you down to the ground as a 
pal, but it wouldn’t go any farther.” 

I wonder why you think that ? ” 

I don’t exactly thinh it — thinking is too much bother 
— but it’s just there, like a commonplace fact. You are all 
temperament, and high-strung nerves, and soul, and en- 
thusiasm, and that sort of thing, which makes you a great 
actress. I’m just a two-legged, superior sort of animal, 
who hasn’t much brain, but knows what he likes, and usu- 
ally does it without wasting time on pros and cons. Con- 
sequently, I’m just as likely to end in prison as anywhere 
else, and take it without much concern as all in the day’s 
work. You are more likely to end in a nunnery, as the 
most devout of all the nuns.” 

What an odd idea ! Why a nunnery ? ” 

Oh, because it’s an extreme of one sort or another, 
and you are made for extremes. You’ll perhaps be very 
wicked first” — he smiled delightfully — after which, of 
course, you’d have to be very good. It’s the way you’re 
made. I’m cut out on quite a different plan. I can’t be 
^very’ anything, unless it’s very drunk after the Oxford 
and Cambridge at Lord’s.” 

“ Do you think I could be very wicked ? ” She asked 
the question with a thoughtfulness that amused him 
greatly, and he answered at once: 

I haven’t a doubt of it. You are probably plotting 
the particular form of wickedness at this very moment.” 

She laughed, and he went on in the same serio-comic 
mood: 

I quite envy you. It must be very thrilling to think 
to oneself, ^ I’ve dared to be desperately wicked.’ You 
cease to be a nonentity at once and become a force. You 
get right to hand-grips with the big elemental things. Of 
course that is interesting, but it usually means a con- 
founded lot of bother.” 

You are as bad as Hal Pritchard. She announced 


WINDING PATHS 


99 


the other day she would rather have a dishonest purpose 
than no purpose at all.” 

^^It’s the same idea, only Miss Pritchard lives up to 
her creed by being full of energy and purpose; whereas I 
can’t be anything but a mediocre waster. I’ve neither the 
pluck to be wicked, nor the energy to be good, nor enough 
purpose to regret it. I believe I’m best described as an 
aristocratic ^ stiff,’ a ^ stiff ’ being a person who spends his 
life trying to avoid having to do things. 

I fill a niche all the same,” he finished, because I 
make such an excellent foil for the other chaps, who like 
to pride themselves on their superiority and hard work. 
It’s nice for them to be able to say contemptuously, ^ Look 
at Denton,’ and it’s nice for me to be able to feel I’m of 
some use, without the bother of making an effort.” 

You are certainly quite incorrigible as an idler, if 
that can be called a purpose, and. Flip, don’t change; I 
love you for it; you are one of the most restful things I 
have ever known.” 

He glanced into her face with a keenness that some- 
what belied his professed incapacity to be in earnest, and 
remarked with seeming lightness: 

Feeling a bit down on your luck, eh ? Are you think- 
ing of falling in love foolishly ? ” 

I’m thinking of trying to guard against doing so.” 

You ought not to find it difficult. Crowd him out 
with other admirers.” 

It seems as if he were going to do the crowding out.” 

^^Why, is he so big?” jocularly. 

There’s six foot five and a half of him.” 

^^Whew! And thin as a lathe, I suppose; a sort of 
animated telegraph pole.” 

No; broad in proportion, cut to measure absolutely.” 

^^Then he’s a fine fellow,” with conviction. 

Lorraine felt a swift glow of pride, and then inwardly 
admonished herself for being silly. What, after all, was 


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size ? As Hal had trenchantly remarked, plenty of London 
policemen were just as big and fine. Half in self-defense 
she added; 

^^He has brains as well, and he is as handsome as 
Apollo.” 

Then run,” was the laconic response ; don’t stop to 
buy a ticket; pay the other end.” 

She smiled, but grew suddenly serious. Leaning for- 
ward with eyes straining hard to the horizon, she said : 

^^Flip, I’ve had a hard life, in spite of the success. 
Shall I run? . . . or . . . shall I stay, and snatch joy, 
while there is still time?” 

He looked at her with a growing interest. 

If I were you I should run,” he said ; but, all the 
same, I think you’ll stay.” 

‘^No; I don’t think I shall. There are other reasons. 
He is a good deal younger than I — and — well, I’ve a fair 
amount on my soul already.” 

The tired shadow was coming back to her eyes, but 
she laughed suddenly with an attempt at gayety. 

You ought to have heard Hal Pritchard on the sub- 
ject. She remarked there were plenty of London police- 
men just as big, and suggested if I wanted a fine young 
animal to play with, I should be safer with a polar bear 
from the Zoo.” 

Well done, Hal. We ought to have brought her. 
Where is she to-day ? ” 

Careering across England in a haphazard fashion 
with her cousin Dick Bruce. Do you mind turning toward 
home now? I’m dining out, and have some letters to 
write.” 

Who’s the happy man to-night? ... I thought of 
^ course I was to have the whole day.” 

^^With a view to getting wholesomely bored! No, 
Flip, I don’t propose to let you find that way out just yet.” 

I should have found it for myself long ago if it were 


WINDING PATHS 


101 


possible. As it is, I have grown resigned, and accept what 
crumbs fall to my portion.’^ He paused a moment and 
then asked, ''Is it Goliath to-night?” 

" It is.” 

" Rash woman ; and just when I have advised you to 
run.” 

" But it is not in the least serious yet. I only asked 
you in view of it becoming so.” 

" Which means you will try and start to run, after you 
are firmly in the trap.” 

" Not at all. I wonT go near the trap. I’ll tell him 
I’m old enough to be his mother, and talk down to him 
from years of detestable common sense and sagacity.” 

" Which sounds as if it would be even duller than din- 
ing with me.” 

" Oh, no. It holds novelty an3rway. You are never 
dull, but likewise you are no longer novel.” 

They made for the highroads again, and spun along 
mostly in silence until the car once more came to a stand- 
still at Lorraine’s door. 

" Come in,” she said, " I’ve lots of time.” 

"No,” with a little smile. "I’ve had my crumbs for 
the day. I’m going to have a good, solid crust now to 
keep the balance. Do you know Lottie Bird? . . . Four- 
teen stone, if she’s an ounce, and a tongue like a sixty- 
horse-power motor. There are times when she’s so damned 
practical and overpowering she does me good. This is one 
of them. Good-by. Don’t kill the giant with a glance; 
and don’t be silly enough to get hurt yourself.” 

"All right. I’ll go in full armor,” and she nodded 
gayly enough as he moved off down the street. 


CHAPTER XI 


What Lorraine exactly meant by full armor she did 
not quite know, but it might very well have been taken to 
mean the shining armor of her own best loveliness. Cer- 
tainly after no small consideration she chose what she be- 
lieved to be her most becoming gown, and she was unusu- 
ally critical about the dressing of her hair. 

All the same, at 7.45 she was ready, and her cavalier 
had not yet arrived. She waited five minutes until he 
came, and then it was necessary to wait another five min- 
utes that he might not know she had been more up to time 
than he. Then she entered the drawing-room in a little 
bit of a hurry, and cut short his simple, direct apologies 
by regretting her own tardiness, and saying she had been 
out motoring until late. 

But she had time to note quickly that he also had 
dressed himself with special care, plastering down reso- 
lutely the unruly determination of his fair hair to curl. 
That was good. Any suggestion of a curl must have pro- 
duced an effect of effeminacy, whereas that neat, plastered 
wave showed the shapeliness of his head, and gave him a 
touch of manly decision. Her electric brougham was at 
the door, but she kept it waiting a few minutes, that they 
might be later than the majority of diners, and pass up a 
well-filled room. 

In the end their arrival was equal to her best expecta- 
tions. She led the way slowly, with a queenly grace that 
was one of her best attributes; but as she nodded casually 
to an acquaintance here and there, she had plenty of time 
to observe the curious eyes from all around, looking with 
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103 


undisguised admiration, not so much at her faultless ap- 
pearance, which was more or less known, but at her striking 
cavalier. 

She had engaged a small table at one of the top corners 
and arranged the seats sideways, so that both could look 
over the room if they wanted to, and at the same time be 
easily seen by others. She did this because it amused her 
to see people gazing at him, and to watch his quiet self- 
possession. She almost wondered if he even realized how 
much attention he attracted, but perceived that he could 
hardly help doing so, though he took it all with so simple 
and unabashed an air. 

She watched also to see if, as most of the strikingly 
handsome men she had known, he courted tell-tale glances 
from other eyes, and sipped honey from any flower within 
reach, as well as from his own particular flower. And when- 
she found that his absolute and undivided attention was 
given to her, and that all the power of entertaining he could 
muster was called into her service, she felt a glow of grati- 
tude to him that he had not disappointed her, but proved 
himself the simple, high-bred gentleman she longed to And 
him. 

It made her show herself to him at her very best. Not 
showily witty, nor callously gay, nor fashionably original, 
but just her own self of light humor and dainty speech and 
kindly sympathy, the true, best self that held HaPs un- 
swerving devotion through good account and ill. 

Unconsciously she left the time-worn paths of beauty 
and success, and became young, and fresh, and whole- 
hearted as he; tackling abstruse problems with a childlike, 
vigorous air; holding him spellbound with her own charm 
of conversation one moment, and leading him on to talk 
with ease and frankness the next. 

The other diners got up and retired to the lounge, and 
still they sat on ; no hint of boredom, no note of disparity, 
no need of other companionship. As they were preparing 


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to rise, she told him lightly that he talked amazingly well 
for his tender years. 

Only twenty-four,’^ he answered ; it does seem a 
kiddish age, doesn’t it ! ” 

Dreadfully kiddish. It makes me feel old enough to 
be your grandmother.” 

He glanced up, half-questioning, half-deprecating. 

That would be the oddest thing of all, unless I really 
appear to be about twenty years before my time.” 

For a reason she could not have fathomed, she looked 
into his eyes with a sudden seriousness and said : 

I was thirty-two last week.” 

She saw a quick look of surprise he did not attempt to 
hide, followed by a very charming smile, as he asserted : 

“ It is impossible. You could not sit there and look like 
that if you were thirty-two.” 

The impossible is so often the true. I’m glad you 
don’t think I seem old. It is nice to believe one can keep 
young at heart, in spite of the years. Shall we go to the 
lounge ? ” 

Again they moved through the admiring crowd, but this 
time Lorraine felt less idle interest and more inward won- 
der ; and without any misgiving she steered to a quiet alcove, 
where they could talk without again being the cynosure of 
many eyes. 

Here, in a pleasant, friendly way, she led him once again 
to talk of the future, and was glad to find, in answering 
sincerity with sincerity, he was ready to admit that he was 
a little sorry about his own lack of ambition and want of 
application. He did not pretend now that it was of no 
moment. He told her he would like to achieve, only some- 
how he always found his attention wander to other things, 
and his desire grow slack after a week of rigid application. 

She recognized that the motive power was missing, and 
that unless something deeper than mere desire of achieve- 
ment stirred him, he would probably never attain. He 


WINDING PATHS 


105 


needed a goal that should make everything else in the world 
pale before it, and something that seemed almost as life 
and death to hang on his success. But how get it for him ? 
If he loved, and was bidden wait until he had prospered, the 
end was all too sure and the love too easy. 

It was something different that was needed ; something 
that would bring him up with dead abruptness against a 
blank wall, and leave him with a taste of life that was dust 
and ashes unless he found a way through. Either that or 
some sweet, wild, unattainable desire, that might drive him 
to work and ambition by way of escape. 

And there again, where should he encounter such a 
desire ? One had only to look into his calm, fine face to feel 
that the unattainable in the form of love, barred by 
marriage vows as lightly made as broken, would never stir 
the depths of his heart, nor appeal to his real self in any 
way whatever. 

He would not love such a woman, however for a time 
she might fascinate him ; and afterwards there would only 
be the nausea and the memory that was like an unpleasant 
taste. Such a woman might teach him many things it is 
no harm for a man to know ; but she would never call to the 
best in him, nor help him to realize himself. 

Have you seen your friend the duchess lately ? ” she 
asked, with a disarming smile, not wishing to appear merely 
curious. 

Yes ; I saw her on Friday, at a ball. She was in great 
form.” 

You danced with her ? ” 

Yes. She^s not a good dancer.” 

Then you only had one, I suppose ? ” 

No, three.” He smiled a little. We sat out two.” 

You ought to have felt highly honored.” 

Oh, I don’t know. She is very amusing. A very 
funny thing happened last week. Out of sheer devilry, she 
and a friend and two men went to the Covent Garden fancy 


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dress ball, disguised, of course, and just for an hour or 
two. To their horror, after the procession, the friend was 
handed a large glass-and-silver salad bowl, as a prize for 
being the best ‘ two-step ^ dancer in the room. Of course 
she had to go oh' with the beastly thing; but she was so 
proud of winning it, she couldn’t resist giving their es- 
capade away, and it got round everywhere.” 

I wonder if our escapade with Lady Bounce is out 
yet? I haven’t seen Hal since Thursday.” 

Oh, yes, it is,” eagerly ; the duchess had heard about 
it. She was pumping me to know who was in the joke. We 
are longing to see Quin and hear the latest, but he is down 
East.” 

What an oddity he is ! ” thoughtfully. I liked him 
so much ; but it is difficult to reconcile him with slumming.” 

He’s one of the best. Everyone loves him. And he 
does his slumming in quite a way of his own. I’ve been with 
him sometimes, and he just goes among the rough charac- 
ters down there as if he hated being a swell and wanted to 
be one of them. He positively asks them for sympathy, and 
of course it takes their fancy and he is friends with them 
all.” 

I think you are a remarkable trio altogether. Hal’s 
cousin Dick is just as original in his way as St. Quintin. 
And you, of course, are somehow different to the majority. 
I wonder how you will each end ? St. Quintin will perhaps 
become a bishop. Dick Bruce will write an astounding, 
weird novel, and bound into fame. And you ? . . .” 

He flushed a little. I shall be left far behind by both 
of them, futilely wishing to catch up.” 

I hope not. Your chance is just as good as theirs, if 
you choose to make it so.” 

‘‘ I fail to see that I have any chance at all.” 

Most chances rest chiefly with ourselves. It’s a great 
thing to be ready for them if they come. I hope you’ll be 
that.” 


WITOING PATHS 


107 


I hope so, too, but it would be easier if one were more 
sure they were coming,’’ and he laughed with a lightness 
that jarred a little. 

She rose to go, as it was getting late, feeling slightly 
disappointed in some vague way ; and when they parted she 
noticed that his hand shake was slightly limp, as of one 
who would not grasp life tightly enough to compel it to 
surrender its good things to him. 

But in her own sanctum she rallied herself, and hard- 
ened her heart, asking what had it to do with her after all, 
and how could his success or nonsuccess in any way concern 
her. 

Doubtless in the end he would share the fate of the great 
majority and attain only mediocrity; having missed that 
one great blinding shaft of pain or joy that might have 
stabbed him into tense, pulsing life, and spurred him up the 
heights of fame and glory. 

She let her evening cloak slide to a chair, turning to 
glance at a calling card on the table, with a renewal of the 
old, callous, cynical air. The practical force of Flip Den- 
ton’s conversation was making itself felt Of course it was 
an absurdity for her to imagine herself in love with a youth 
of twenty-four — almost the dullest of all ages — ^be he never 
so good to look at. She might very well keep a motherly 
eye on him, and show him a side of life he might perhaps 
not see otherwise, but it must end there. 

ISTo doubt a certain novelty had made the evening un- 
usually pleasant: after two or three more they would cer- 
tainly pall, and then she would go back to her old chums ; 
the men of the world who had paid their footing and won 
their experience, and come through, careless enough devils 
at best in their own phraseology, but none the worse for 
a fall or two, and a win or two, and a self-taught hardihood 
for most things life was likely any more to send. 

She smiled a little as she remembered how calmly he 
had thanked her and said good night. Of a surety he took 
8 


108 


WINDING PATHS 


his fruits quietly and unconcernedly enough. She won- 
dered if he were secretly in love with some pink-and-white 
debutante, who flushed and smiled when he spoke, and gazed 
up at him with fond, adoring eyes. It was likely enough. 

No doubt he would tell her all about it soon, as a very 
young man tells a favorite sister, or a jolly, not too elderly 
aunt. She rather hoped he would. It would be an anti- 
climax humorous enough to cure her all in a moment of 
seeming anything to him other than that jolly, not too 
elderly aunt. Then she would invite Flip to dinner, and 
they would be gay together — she could imagine the tone 
in which he would call her aunty ’’ — and her folly would 
fall from her like an outgrown chrysalis, leaving her sane, 
and cynical, and worldly, and whole again. 

The train of thought pleased her, and soothed in some 
way an indefinable rasping sense of the general futility of 
all feeling and all striving. Surely she, with her young-old 
heart, her world-worn memories, and her youth that never 
was, should know that worldly-wise dictum full well. 

Of course she new it. 

The things that mattered were beauty and brilliance and 
success ; and these she had in good measure, brimming over. 
Her mood made her cross suddenly to the many-sided 
mirror, and switch on a blaze of light that would brook 
no feigning. 

In its searching gleams she looked at herself with clear, 
fearless eyes. Yes; it was all there still, untouched and 
unimpaired by those thirty-two years: the coloring, the 
skin, the rounded, supple figure — all the things for which 
men loved her and the world gave her fame. 

She gave herself a little mocking salute, and then turned 
away to hurry into her pretty, cozy bed. 

But what the blaze of light had not seen the mothering 
darkness hid tenderly. Two bright tear-drops, filling tired 
eyes that had tried so often to fool themselves into blind 
and callous content. 


CHAPTER XII 


^‘Dick Bruce will write an astounding, weird novel, 
and bound into fame,” Lorraine had remarked to her com- 
panion, and away somewhere down in Kent, an hour or so 
earlier, Dick had remarked to Hal as they spun along : 

IVe got the maddest idea for a novel you ever heard 
of. I’m going to make the hit of next season.” 

"I hope it’s not about babies,” said Hal, thinking of 
his doggerel. 

Yes, it is — babies and vegetables.” 

Oh, nonsense. You can’t make a novel out of babies 
and vegetables.” 

You see if I can’t. The vegetables are all to be en- 
dowed with life, and of course the scene of my tale will be 
the vegetable kingdom.” 

And where do the babies come in ? ” 

“The babies will represent mankind.” 

“ I never heard such rot. Why should mankind be rep- 
resented by babies ? Much better let them be represented by 
green peas or gooseberries.” 

“ Hot at all. Mankind can only properly be repre- 
sented by babies ; mankind being in its infancy.” 

“ But it isn’t. It’s much older than vegetables.” 

“ It is not. Man was made last, and instead of develop- 
ing into a reasonable, rational object, like a potato or a 
cabbage, he has strayed away into all manner of wild side- 
issues, and is still nothing but a very much perplexed 
infant.” 


109 


110 


WINDING PATHS 


And do you propose to try and help him to emulate 
the reasonable, rational condition of the potato and cab- 
bage?’’ 

I propose to show him his inferiority to these delect- 
able creations.” 

^^Then if he has any sense he will just duck you in 
the Serpentine and make you apologize. Personally I con- 
sider myself anything but a baby, and far superior to any 
of the cabbage tribe.” 

^^Ah! . . .” he cried gleefully. ‘^You are actually 
proving my theory. I can’t explain now, but just wait 
till that book is written.” 

‘^Are you taking rooms at Colney Hatch while you 
do it?” 

I have thought about it. You show more understand- 
ing in that remark than in any of the others.” 

It doesn’t require much effort of understanding to 
think that out. Is the onion or the mangel-wurzel to be 
your hero ? ” 

‘^You are unsympathetic. I shall not tell you any 
more.” 

Not at all. I am most interested, really. I should 
make the cabbage your hero, and the onion your heroine, 
then she can weep on his breast.” They swerved violently, 
and with a little gasp she added : All the same, I’ve no 
desire to weep on the highway underneath a motor car. 
What are you doing?” 

I don’t know. The steering wheel seems a bit odd.” 

They stopped to examine the wheel, and almost imme- 
diately, out of the gathering darkness behind shot another 
car, hooting violently to them to get out of the way. Un- 
able to stop the oncoming car in time, Dick tried to move 
aside, failed, and in less than a minute the newcomer, in 
spite of brakes swiftly adjusted, crashed into them, smash- 
ing their lamp, and badly damaging the back near-side 
wheel of the car. 


Wmm^Q PATHS 


111 


Well, I’m blowed ! ” said Dick, that’s the only mo- 
ment in the whole day you shouldn’t have been on that 
particular square yard of the entire globe. Any other 
moment I could either have moved aside or stopped you 
in time.” 

The occupant of the other car, who was driving alone, 
sprang out and came briskly forward. 

^‘What the devil! . . he began, then noticed the 
lady, and stopped short. 

It was certainly the devil,” said Dick, ruefully ex- 
amining his battered wheel, and, I always thought he was 
credited with the decency to look after his own. How have 
you fared?” 

Well, he seems to have looked after me all right,” in 
a cheery voice; there’s nothing that will prevent my 
going on to town. But if you will pardon my curiosity, 
why take root in the middle of the road and ask for 
trouble ? ” 

Hal’s smile suddenly flashed out in the lamplight irre- 
sistibly. 

It’s a new theory about vegetables being wiser than 
mankind, but of course we took root too soon.” 

A pair of gray eyes looked quizzically at her in the 
darkness, discerning only the gleam of a white face in a 
close-fitting bonnet, and the flash of white, even teeth. 

The blasted steering wheel wouldn’t act,” said Dick. 

We had just that second slowed down to examine it. You 
might have come along here to all eternity and not have 
been as inopportune.” 

You take it very well.” The big-coated apparition, 
in motor cap with the ear flaps down, and motor goggles, 
and the suggestion of a rotundity about the center, was not 
at all engaging to look at, hut he had a charming voice. 

I’m taking it so ill that I daren’t express myself out 
loud,” said Hal. ''What in the world are we to do? Is 
there a train anywhere near?” 


112 


WINDING PATHS 


I’m afraid not, but there is a decent enough inn close 

by.” 

^^An inn isn’t much use to me.” She paused, then 
added solemnly : I’ve got a strait-laced brother.” 

Hal’s voice was rather deep and rich for a woman, and 
it had a dangerous allurement in the darkness. The 
stranger took off his goggles and tried again to see her 
face, while Dick took a minute stock of his damage. 

Well,” he suggested, a little daringly, if he is able 
to chaperon you at the inn himself ” 

He isn’t,” said Hal ; he’s somewhere east of Picca- 
dilly, studying Phoenician architecture, and the herring- 
bone pattern on antique masonry.” 

Oh, damn ! ” intercepted Dick, the old man has let 
me down badly this time; this car won’t move before day- 
break. It means a red light burning all night, and we 
must go to the inn.” 

But, Dick,” Hal exclaimed in quick alarm. How 
can I let Dudley know ? He’ll have a fit at the idea of my 
being out all night like that.” 

He ought to be too thankful you are safe and sound 
to mind anything else.” 

But he won’t ; because he is always grumbling at my 
not getting back before dark. There must surely be a 
train from somewhere ! ” 

Her voice had grown seriously alarmed as she began 
to realize what sort of a fix she was in. The stranger came 
forward to lend his aid to the inspection, and after a cur- 
sory glance added his verdict to Dick’s. 

You won’t move her before morning ; and there are no 
trains anywhere near here on Sunday night. I am going to 
London myself ; you must let me give you both a lift.” 

Dick stood up with an air of finality. 

I can’t leave her. She isn’t exactly all my own, you 
see. I must stay at the inn, but if you wouldn’t mind tak- 
ing Miss Pritchard — ” He looked at Hal a little anxiously. 


WINDING PATHS 


113 


I shall be delighted,” came the brisk response from 
the stranger. 

Hal for once was nonplused, but her habitual humor 
reasserted itself. 

I don’t know which Dudley will think the most 
dreadful,” she remarked comically, for me to stay at the 
inn unchaperoned, or motor back with a stranger. I seem 
to be fairly between the devil and the deep sea.” 

The men laughed, but Dick made the decision. 

You had better go back,” he said. He will at least 
have you safe under lock and key by midnight that way 
and not lie awake worrying all night himself.” 

^^Then let me run you to the inn first,” said the 
stranger, and after fixing his red lights, Dick went off with 
them in search of help to make the car safer for the night. 

A little later the stranger’s motor turned Londonward 
with two occupants only, one in front and one behind. 
After a few miles he stopped. 

“Won’t you come and sit in front? It seems so un- 
sociable to travel like this.” 

“Most unsociable,” said Hal, “but it would please 
Brother Dudley.” 

“ Never mind Brother Dudley now.” The voice was 
very attractive. “ Mind me, instead. I’m very dull here, 
and I hate driving in the dark. My chauffeur is down 
with the ' flu,’ and I couldn’t beg, borrow, nor steal anyone 
else’s.” 

“ Are you a doctor ? ” she asked, taking her seat beside 
him. 

“ Why do you think I should be a doctor ? ” tucking a 
warm rug cozily round her, in a leisurely fashion. 

“ Only because I thought perhaps you were obliged to 
go, in spite of your chauffeur being ill.” 

“ I was obliged to go, but I’m not a doctor.” 

They started forward again, but the pace was noticeably 
slower. 


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I hope you don’t mind going slowly, it is so difficult 
to steer in the dark ? ” 

Hal was perfectly aware he had not found it so difficult 
before, but she only said lightly : 

“ Anything to keep safe from another mishap. I might 
have to walk home next time.” 

Or stay at an inn with me ! . . with an amused 
laugh. What would Brother Dudley do then ? ” 

Have brain fever first, I expect, then creeping pa- 
ralysis, then sleeping sickness.” 

He chuckled with enjoyment, and presently remarked : 

I don’t think you treat Dudley respectfully enough if he 
is an affectionate elder brother.” 

Oh, yes, I do. I sort of leaven the lump. Without me 
he’d be just a clever prig; he couldn’t help it. With me he’s 
only better than most men; and his lofty ideas don’t get 
top-heavy, because I keep him in touch with commonplace 
humanity.” 

Why is he better than most men ? What is the matter 
with the rest of us ? ” 

“ The rest of you don’t bother to have lofty ideas at all, 
much less struggle to live up to them.” 

You are a little sweeping. Do you like men to have 
lofty ideas, and be priggish ? ” 

They don’t necessarily go together. It’s only Dud- 
ley who thinks all the rest of the world ought to be good, 
too.” 

And don’t you agree with him ? ” 

^‘1 look at things from a different standpoint. I ad- 
mire him tremendously, and feel his superiority ; but it is 
more natural to me to take things as I find them and make 
the best of them as they are.” 

You are evidently a very sensible young lady. You 
can find a w^arm spot in your heart even for a sinner, for 
instance ? ” 

I rather like them,” and she gave a low laugh. 


WINDING PATHS 


115 


Of course you do, if you’re a true woman.” 

Oh, I’m a true woman right enough. I like a man to 
have a spice of the devil in him; and I like playing with 
fire; and I love getting into mischief.” 

Capital ! ... You and I must be friends. I’m be- 
ginning to think it was a lucky mishap for me at all events.” 

I haven’t finished my qualifications yet. You may 
change your mind. I like all those sort of things, but at 
the same time I like the big things as well. Also I’m told 
I’m most annoyingly practical, and most irritatingly 
capable of taking care of myself, and never getting burned, 
so to speak.” 

Who told you that ? ” 

I think it was some one at the office.” 

« What office?” 

She mentioned the name of one of the leading London 
papers. 

Oh, you’re a working young lady, are you ? ” He 
asked the question with a new note in his voice, though 
it would have been difficult to tell just how the information 
struck him. 

Hal gave another laugh. 

A working young lady ! How awful ! I shall not be 
friends with you if you call me anything so dreadful as 
that.” 

What do you call it ? ” 

'^Well, I think I like ^Breadwinner’ best, as that is 
what I do it for — ^but I don’t mind working woman.” 

The stranger looked hard into the darkness a few mo- 
ments, then he asked suddenly, still with the new note in his 
voice : 

And I suppose you want the vote ? ” 

Mentally he was wondering whether, if she knew who 
he was, she would attack him physically or insist upon 
writing in chalk all over his car. 

I don’t want it for myself, because I shouldn’t know 


116 


WINDING PATHS 


what to do with it, and I haven’t much time to find out. 
But I want fair play for women workers generally, and if 
that is the only way to get it, I hope it will come quickly.” 

What do you mean by fair play ? ” 

Just whatever is fair play. I don’t think women ought 
to be making iron chains at Cradley Heath for a penny a 
yard, for instance, and that sort of thing. I think it is a 
slur on the men who govern the country that it is possible. 
If you were one of them, and drove about in this beautiful 
car, not caring twopence whether starving women were 
sweated or not, I should — ” She hesitated. 

^^Well, what should you ” 

Detecting the mysterious note in his voice, she added 
with mischievous, half-serious intent : 

I should want to scratch you, and bite you, and push 
you into the first available ditch, for a poor coward, who 
was afraid to take care of the interests of woman, in case 
she got too well able in the end to take care of herself — so 
there.” 

He could not help laughing, and when he subsided she 
added : 

I suppose you are one.” 

Why do you suppose it ? ” 

Never mind. Are you ? ” 

You promise you won’t scratch me and bite me? ” 

I’ll give you a sporting chance to run away.” 

I’m not very likely to run away from you, I think.” 

They had reached the well-lit roads now, and he turned 
and looked keenly into her face, partly to see if by chance he 
might recognize her, and partly to get a clearer idea of 
her appearance. 

You look too nice to be a suffragette,” he said. 

Such rot ! Do I look too nice to care whether working 
women and outcast women are fairly treated or not ? ” 

That’s only the bluff of the movement. What they 
really want is power and notoriety.” 


WINDI^^G PATHS 


117 


Hal tossed her head. 

You’re a positive worm/’ she told him frankly. 

Again his engaging laugh rang out. 

That’s a nice thing to say to a man who has brought 
you all the way from Millington to London, and helped you 
out of a tight corner.” 

The white teeth gleamed suddenly. 

I’ll qualify it if you like, and call you a cross between 
a worm and a brick.” 

Not good enough. I won’t pass the worm at all. If 
you don’t retract it wholly I shall put you down at the first 
tram, and let you get back to Bloomsbury on your own.” 

“ I’ll retract, if you’ll tell me who you are.” 

I’ll tell you afterwards.” 

She shook her head. 

Perhaps you are going to Downing Street even now, 
to plan a crushing blow to the Cause.” 

I am going to Downing Street, but it has nothing to 
do with the Cause, as you call it.” 

It was her turn to glance round, but she only saw that 
he was clean-shaven, and somewhat lined. His gray, quiz- 
zical eyes met hers full of humor. 

I wonder who we both are ? ” he said. 

I can easily tell you who I am, as I’m so comfortably 
of no account. My name is Harriet Pritchard, and my 
friends call me Hal. I live with Brother Dudley, who is 
an architect; and if the world isn’t any the better for me, 
I hope it is sometimes a little gayer, that’s all.” 

And are you engaged to the young man whose steering 
gear went wrong ? ” 

No ; I am not engaged to anyone at all.” 

Very nearly, perhaps? ” 

No; not even within sight of it. Being engaged, and 
always having to go out with the same pal, would bore me 
to tears.” 

I see.” There was a note of satisfaction in his voice. 


118 


WINDING PATHS 


In the brighter lights he had observed that the warm ulster 
clung to a very shapely figure, and covered a pair of fine 
shoulders, and even if she was not pretty, for he could not 
be quite sure on the point, she was certainly very attrac- 
tive, and had a delightfully engaging smile. 

I wonder if there is room for another in the ranks.^^ 

Something a little condescending in the way he made 
the suggestion nettled Hal. 

Aren’t you rather old ? ” she asked. 

Again his ready laugh rang out. 

I’ll give frankness for frankness. I am forty-eight.” 

Goodness ! . . . and I am twenty-five.” 

Is that all ? Then allow me to say you are a remark- 
ably clever young woman.” 

A good many breadwinners are ; they have to be. 
Some of them are too clever even for Cabinet Ministers,” 
and she chuckled joyfully. 

In the darkness, she did not see the quick gleam in his 
eyes, as he retorted : 

I don’t think many Cabinet Ministers have the luck 
to meet a breadwinner who is as attractive as she is 
clever.” 

And if they did,” sarcastically, I suppose they would 
drop the notoriety yarn and find time to consider whether 
the working woman is treated fairly or not. The weakness 
in her defense at present seems solely that not enough pretty 
women make up her defenders. Bah! You all ought to 
have kittens to play with, and nanny goats and woolly 
lambs.” 

“I don’t know why you include me. What have I 
done?” 

“ Well, if you’re going to Downing Street? ” 

Why shouldn’t I be going to a dinner party ? ” 

She turned and glanced up with a dare-devil light in her 
eyes that delighted him. 

“ I not only think you a member of Parliament, but. 


WINDING PATHS 


119 


judging by your fatuous air of superiority, I should imagine 
you are positively a full-blown Cabinet Minister/’ 

He busied himself with his steering wheel, while little 
chuckles of enjoyment came out of his muffler. 

And supposing I were,” he said at last. 

Goodness ! . . . I hope you’re not ! . . .” in quick 
alarm. 

Why do you hope so ? ” 

Oh, I don’t know, except that I’ve never known a 
Cabinet Minister in my life, and I never expected, if I met 
one, to treat him like . . . like ” 

An old and fatuous lump of superiority ! ” with a gay 
laugh. Well, little woman, you needn’t be in the least 
sorry. I don’t know that I’ve ever enjoyed a motor ride 
more. When will you come again ? ” 

Are you a Cabinet Minister? ” she asked helplessly. 

Well, I hope you won’t disapprove, for I have to plead 
guilty to being Sir Edwin Crathie.” 

“ Sir Edwin Crathie ? ” in abashed tones. 

" They called me Squib at school.” He said it in a 
whimsical, humorous voice, looking down at her with very 
friendly eyes. 

But Hal had grown silent. 

I’m afraid by your manner you do disapprove.” 

It is certainly embarrassing. I would rather you had 
been . . . well, just anyone.” 

You’ll get used to it,” still with the twinkle in his 
eyes. In the meantime you haven’t answered my question. 
When will you come for another ride ? ” 

She did not reply, and he leaned a little closer. 

You will come again ? ” 

^^I’m afraid Brother Dudley wouldn’t like it”; and 
then they both laughed. 

‘^Will you come in?” as they drew up before her 
door. 

“ I’m afraid I haven’t time ; and, besides, I’m a little 


120 


WINDING PATHS 


afraid of Brother Dudley. I only feel equal to the Prime 
Minister this evening.’’ 

She held out her hand. 

Well, thank you ever so much. You saved me from 
a dreadfully tight corner.” 

The thanks should be all mine : you saved me from 
unmitigated boredom. I cursed my chauffeur for going 
down with ‘ flu ’ to-day, but now I feel ready to raise his 
salary for it.” 

He had pulled off his thick motoring glove, and was 
holding her hand in a firm, lingering clasp, which she 
quickly cut short, tucking both her hands into her ulster 
pockets, and standing up very straight and slim in the 
lamplight. 

I’ll have to go through the confessional now,” she 
told him, and sit on the stool of repentance for supper.” 

^'No; don’t repent; come again.” He moved nearer. 

I’m naturally a very busy man, and I can’t make engage- 
ments offhand, but I can easily get at you on the telephone. 
Will you come some afternoon, about half-past four?” 

I think you are very rash. How do you know I shall 
not bring the colors, and wave them wildly down the street, 
shouting ^ Votes for Women ’ ? ” 

I’ll risk it. Will you come ? ” 

She moved away, latchkey in hand. 

^'I don’t know. I won’t promise, anyway. Good-by, 
and my best thanks.” 

There was a rush of light through an open door, a last 
bright smile, and he found himself alone in the street. 


CHAPTER XIII 


When Hal entered the sitting room and met Dudley’s 
eyes she felt, as she afterwards described it to Lorraine, 
that she was in for it. Yet it was not so very late, barely 
half-past nine. On the table her supper was still waiting 
for her. 

« We’ve had a slight accident,” she said, taking the 
bull by the horns ; something went wrong with the steer- 
ing gear, and it delayed us. Have you had supper ? ” no- 
ticing the table was still laid for two. 

I always have supper at eight on Sundays, because 
Mrs. White has to clear it away herself, as you know. Isn’t 
Dick coming in ? ” 

Xo. He’s — ” Hal stopped short, considering the 
advantages of prevarication. 

I wanted to see him,” testily. He said he would 
give me a particular address to-night. Why is he in such 
a hurry?” 

" It wasn’t Dick who brought me.” 

She took off her motor bonnet and threw it on the sofa, 
running her hands through her bright hair, and rubbing 
her cheeks, which were a little cold. 

^‘Not Dick? . . .” Dudley looked up from his book 
peremptorily. Who did bring you ? ” 

Hal took her seat at the table. 

^^Well, you see, we had a slight accident. We had 
just stopped to examine the steering gear, when another 
car came round a curve and crashed into us. Dick’s car 
was damaged, and . . .” She reached across for the salad, 

121 


122 


WINDING PATHS 


and helped herself with as unconcerned an air as she could 
muster .... Oh ! . . . onions ! . . . how scrumptious ! 

. . . Mrs. White always remembers my plebeian tastes, but 
not my 2:>atrician ones.^’ 

Well ! ” he suggested coldly. Dick’s car was dam- 
aged, and ” 

Dick had to stay and nurse it.” 

“ Then did you come home by train ? ” 

There was no train. There was nothing else.” 

“Nothing else than what?” 

“Nothing but the car that ran into us, or going to an 
inn for the night with Dick. I was afraid you wouldn’t 
like that,” with a mischievous gleam. 

“My likes and dislikes are not, apparently, of the 
smallest moment to you, or you would not have been motor- 
ing late on Sunday at all.” 

“Dick can’t go other days.” 

“ Who was in this other car ? ” 

“A man.” 

Again he glanced up quickly. 

“ Anyone else ? ” 

“No. . His chauffeur is down with ^ flu.’ ” 

“ Was it some one you knew, then ? ” 

“ No. He told me on the way in.” 

“Am I to gather that you returned to London alone, 
in a motor car, with a perfect stranger ? ” 

“ I’m afraid you are.” 

“ Why didn’t Dick come with you ? Surely if he takes 
you out for the day he might at least see you safely home. 
I never heard of such proceedings in my life. The man 
might have been a positive blackguard. Had you any idea 
who he was ? ” 

“ No, none; but what’s the use of making a fuss! It’s 
all right now, and I’m safely at home ; which is surely bet- 
ter than being in some weird village all night, and you 
wondering what on earth had become of me.” 


WINDING PATHS 


123 


That is not the question. It’s the whole circumstance 
from beginning to end. I consider Dick’s behavior most 
reprehensible.” 

He couldn’t leave his car alone there in the middle 
of a Kentish highroad. He had to stay somewhere near.” 

“ I think he should have considered you of more im- 
portance than the car. To let you return alone, at that 
hour, with a perfect stranger, is the most unheard-of pro- 
ceeding. I shall certainly tell Dick what I think of him.” 

It wasn’t Dick’s fault,” loyally. I just took the 
matter into my own hands and came. Dick had nothing 
to do with it. In fact, I insisted upon his remaining 
behind.” 

Oh, of course you would. You only seem to be happy 
when you are flying in the face of some convention or other. 
But Dick is older than you, and he knows my views on 
these matters. He owed it to me to see you safely home.” 

But since I am safely home ! . . .” obstinately. 

^^You very well might not have been. What the 
stranger himself must think of you I don’t know. Have 
you any idea who he was ? ” 

^^Yes. Sir Edwin Crathie.” 

Sir Edwin Crathie ! Do you mean the Cabinet Min- 
ister ? ” 

So he said.” 

And did you tell him who you were ? ” 

Again there was a gleam under the lowered lashes. 

I did ; but I can’t say he either recognized our his- 
toric name or seemed much impressed. I really don’t be- 
lieve he had ever heard of me.” 

Dudley refused to smile. Instead the frown deepened 
on his face. 

^^That is probably just as well. Your actions of late 
cannot be said to be entirely to your credit. What is this 
tale about Thursday night? I met St. Quintin’s father 
with Uncle Bruce this morning in the park. You told me 
9 


124 


WINDING PATHS 


Quin’s aunt was going to chaperon you. Did she or did 
she not?” 

I told you Lady Bounce was going to chaperon me. 
Lady Bounce did chaperon me.” 

Is Lady Bounce Quin’s aunt ? ” 

That depends.” Hal pushed away her chair, wishing 
vaguely that fathers and uncles would mind their own busi- 
ness. Either incident alone she could have coped with, but 
it was a distinct imposition to expect her to manage both 
at once, and on Sunday night into the bargain. 

I can only presume you lent yourself to such a vulgar 
proceeding as Quin dressing up as a woman and acting 
chaperon. Is that the truth ? ” 

Not entirely. You see, he wasn’t an ordinary woman. 
He went as his aunt. Lady Phyllis Fenton. His personifi- 
cation was a masterpiece.” 

Dudley began to pace the room. His thin lips were 
compressed into a straight line, and his whole air distinctly 
worried. 

What you seem quite unable to perceive is the way 
in which these incidents reflect upon your good taste and 
upon my guardianship.” 

Hal grew suddenly nettled. 

^^It is nonsense to talk of guardianship now. I am 
twenty-five, and I earn my own living. I am perfectly 
well able to take care of myself.” 

No; that is just what you are not. You are so rash 
and inconsequent.” 

Well, anyhow I get a good deal out of my life, while 
you ” 

He remembered his own Thursday evening and inter- 
cepted : 

It is possible to get a great deal out of life without 
outraging every convention. Do you imagine either Ethel 
or Doris Hayward would do the wild things you do ? ” 

Ethel Hayward is a brick. She couldn’t be strait- 


WINDING PATHS 


125 


laced anyhow, nor narrow-minded. Doris would do any- 
thing under the sun that suited her own ends.^^ 

She got up, and turned away without perceiving his 
frown, beginning to gather up her paraphernalia. He 
stopped short in his walk. 

If it really was Sir Edwin Crathie who brought you 
home, I must write and thank him, I think.” 

I shouldn’t bother ; probably it wasn’t him at all ; 
only some third-rate actor.” 

Dudley tried to see her face, not sure if she was serious 
or not, but she kept her head averted as she added : 

Quite possibly it was Lord Bounce.” 

You are always treating a serious subject with levity,” 
he complained. ^^What am I to think? Do you or do 
you not believe your escort was Sir Edwin Crathie ? ” 

" Well, as he was awfully afraid I might be a militant 
suffragette, I think he really was a Cabinet Minister.” 

I hope you entirely undeceived him on that score,” 
dryly. 

Not at all. I told him I was tingling to scratch him 
and bite him,” and the ghost of a smile crossed her lips. 

Dudley relapsed into silent displeasure, and for a few 
moments neither spoke. Then Hal, with her garments 
on her arm, came round to him with a frank, affection- 
ate air. 

Dudley, don’t make mountains out of molehills over 
nothing. I know I am a little wild. I can’t help it — we 
seem to have got mixed up somehow. You’ve got all the 
decorum and nice, refined feelings of a charming woman, 
and I’ve got the enterprise and ^ don’t-care ’ spirit of a 
man. It isn’t any use fighting against facts. You must 
take me as I am, and make the best of it. I can’t change 
now ; and I don’t know that I would if I could.” 

I don’t suppose you would. You positively glory in 
the very traits that I deplore”; but his voice sounded 
mollified. 


126 


WINDING PATHS 


Oh, well, old man, you wouldn’t like me to be helpless, 
and foolish, and woolly lambified, would you ? It wouldn’t 
be half so interesting. Just fancy if you had a sister like 
Doris Hayward ; can you imagine anything tamer ? ” 

He stiffened again, but she did not notice it. 

^^As for Thursday night, you never ought to have 
heard about it, and you never would have if Uncle 
Bruce had not been such an old telltale. Just wait till I 
get him alone; that’s all. Anyhow, he didn’t think it a 
heinous crime, did he ? I expect he gave a great laugh that 
startled everyone within hearing.” 

As that was exactly what had happened, Dudley made 
no comment. 

And Sir Edwin Crathie would only have thought me 
a fool if I had been afraid to come back with him. These 
things will happen occasionally. They are not worth wor- 
rying about. You are too anxious over trifles, Dudley.” 
She moved away toward the door. Well, good night, 
don’t forget to return thanks that anyhow I am not in a 
hospital, generally smashed up.” 

She left him, and retired to bed, feeling a little de- 
pressed. Of course he had not forgiven her, nor would he 
see things from her point of view. She almost wished he 
did not mind ; but all her life she had had an affection that 
was almost adoration for her one brother, and it always de- 
pressed her to displease him, however indifferent she might 
seem. 

She awoke next morning with the sense of depression 
still lingering, and set off for the city in far from her 
usual spirits. The office seemed dingy and dull, and the 
routine wearisome. It felt like ages and ages since she 
had driven home through the darkness in Sir Edwin’s 
beautiful car. She wondered if it was real at all; only 
what else should make all the old friends at the office ap- 
pear so uninteresting and commonplace. 

She speculated a little forlornly as to whether she 


WINDING PATHS 


127 


would ever be likely to see him again, and decided it was 
most unlikely, and that probably he had already forgotten 
the whole incident. 

And just when she had reached that point in her medi- 
tations, the telephone boy came to tell her some one was 
asking for her. She asked him dispiritedly who it was, 
and he replied that the gentleman had declined to give a 
name. 

Hal shut herself into the case, took down the receiver, 
and, still dispiritedly, asked : Halloo ! Are you there ? ’’ 

Is that Miss Pritchard ? ” asked a voice that made 
her pulses hasten. 

^^Yes. Who is that?” 

^^The mere worm,” came back the cheery answer. 

WhaPs the matter ? You sound somewhat funereal. 
Was Brother Dudley very angry?” 

Terrible. I am still recovering. He seemed to have 
grave doubts as to whether you really were the eminent 
person you professed to be ! ” 

Oh, he did, did he ? And what did you say ? ” 

That it was quite possible you were only a third-rate 
actor all the time.” 

Thanks. I shall not grow vain on your compliments. 
Have you any grave doubts yourself ? ” 

^^I don’t mind either way.” 

Thanks again. Well, I am speaking to you from my 
own private sanctum at the House of Commons; and if 
you want to make sure, you can take my number, and ring 
up the Exchange and inquire.” 

I’ll take your word for it.” 

Good girl. You don’t sound quite so obstreperous as 
you were last night. What’s the matter?” 

" I’m only Mondayfied. The office is always boring on 
a Monday.” 

I’m sorry I can’t suggest a spin this afternoon, but 
I’m too much engaged until Wednesday. Will you come 


128 


WINDING PATHS 


on Wednesday ? Well ? ” as Hal appeared ^>0 be medi- 
tating. 

"Where do you propose going?” she asked. 

Anywhere you like. I’d better not fetch you from 
the office though. I’ll pick you up just casually in St. 
James’s Park. Will you be there at five, near the Arch- 
way ? ” 

"All right, if I can get away. How shall I let you 
know if I change my mind ? ” 

" Don’t do anything so childish. The run will do you 
good after a stuffy office. I’ll be there to the minute. 
Good-by,” and he rang off without waiting for a reply. 

Hal went back to her work, with a pleasurable sensation 
that instead of gray stuffiness there was joyful sunshine. 
She had never imagined for a moment he would actually 
carry out his suggestion of a meeting; and here they were 
with an actual appointment. 

It was so odd, too, that they had not properly seen each 
other yet; only having met in the light of street lamps; 
and she fell to wondering eagerly what he was like in broad 
daylight. A voice whispered, " Perhaps you won’t like 
him at all, and will wish you had not gone ” ; but her love 
of adventure easily silenced it, and she looked forward to 
her outing without any misgivings. 

Once she thought she would go and tell Lorraine about 
it first, but later decided it would be more enjoyable to do 
so afterwards, and kept her own counsel; which perhaps 
was not entirely wise, seeing how much more cause Lor- 
raine had to know the world than she had. 


CHAPTER XIV 


Sir Edwin Crathie had come to the front very rap- 
idly under the auspices of the Liberal Government. With- 
out having any special worth, he was sufficiently brilliant 
and unscrupulous to brush obstacles aside without com- 
punction, and assert himself in a manner that impressed 
his hearers with the notion that he was very clever, very 
thorough, and very reliable. 

Those who knew him superficially believed him extraor- 
dinarily clever. Those who knew him intimately some- 
times shrugged their shoulders. He was possessed un- 
doubtedly of a certain fiashy sort of cleverness, but some 
of his greatest skill existed in imposing it upon others as 
strength and insight. 

As may be imagined, such a man was not much troubled 
with principles. If a step was likely to help him forward 
with his ambitions, he took it without considering the 
moral aspect. If no help was likely to follow, he only took 
it if it happened to please his fancy. To say that he had 
climbed by women was to put it mildly. 

Many of his steps he had taken on women’s hearts, 
trampling them mercilessly in the process. And since he 
was admittedly unscrupulous, it was not surprising, for he 
was possessed not only of an attractive appearance, but of 
great personal magnetism when he chose to exert it. 

He was a bachelor because so far he had considered 
the single state best forwarded his aims, but a- growing 
and imperative need for money was now causing him to 
look round among the richest heiresses for some one to pay 
his debts in consideration of being inadp Lady Crathie. 

129 


130 


WINDING PATHS 


In the meantime HaTs independent spirit and fresh- 
ness suggested an entertaining interlude; and as she 
attracted him more strongly than any woman had done of 
late, he decided to follow up their chance friendship just 
for the amusement of it. 

In consequence, he felt quite boyishly eager for the 
hours to pass on Wednesday, and when at last it was time 
to start, dismissed his chauffeur with a curt sentence, and 
started off alone. The chauffeur, it may be mentioned, 
merely glanced after him, and with a shrug of his shoul- 
ders wondered what the master was up to now.” 

When Sir Edwin reached the meeting place he was 
not particularly surprised to find no signs of Hal. He 
believed she would come ; but evidently she liked being per- 
verse, and would purposely keep him waiting. He ran the 
car slowly back again, scanning each pedestrian ahead with 
a certain anxious eagerness, wondering how he would like 
her in broad daylight. 

On returning to the Archway, and still finding no one 
waiting, he alighted with a pretense of examining some part 
of the car, and looked back over the paths leading down 
from Piccadilly. 

And something in his mental regions felt rather fool- 
ishly glad when he recognized her afar off. 

He had never seen her walk, but his instinct told him 
Hal would move with just the graceful, swinging stride 
of the tall, slim figure coming toward him, and carry her 
head and shoulders with just such a dauntless, grenadier 
attitude. 

He found himself standing quite still, with his hands 
deep in his overcoat pockets, watching her. Her costume, 
too, pleased his fastidious taste. Of course a first-class 
tailor had cut a coat and skirt with a fit and hang like that; 
and the small hat, if it had nothing Parisian about it, any- 
how suited the wearer and dress to perfection. 

He noted with quiet pleasure that she showed no signs 


WINDING PATHS 


131 


of embarrassment when she met liis watching gaze, merely 
crossing the road with the same jaunty, upright walk, and 
a gleam of fun in her eyes. 

Halloo ! was her greeting Hope I haven’t kept 
you waiting. I’ve had a busy afternoon helping my chief 
to give you and The Eight Honorable Hayes Matheson a 
good slanging.” 

Oh, you have, have you ? ” 

The gray eyes were growing more and more approving, 
as he noted each detail most likely to appeal to a man who 
had made a study of women for many years. The shapely 
little ears with the glossy hair curling round them, the full, 
rounded throat, the determined little chin, the frank, fear- 
less eyes. 

He still hardly knew whether she was pretty or not, but 
he discerned very quickly that she was amply blessed with 
that rare gift of personality and humor that is so much 
more durable than a pretty face. 

Hal, for her part, was no less interested in him, but she 
found little else than that she had already seen : humorous, 
quizzical gray eyes, a face a good deal lined, and a mouth 
and chin suggesting a nature fond of enjoyment and self- 
indulgence, which it had never seen any cause to deny itself. 
She saw that he was very gray about the temples, and a 
trifle inclined to stoutness, but tall enough and broad 
enough to carry it off. 

A flne flgure of a man, though one, she felt instinctively, 
belonging to a very different world to hers. Because she 
felt his careful scrutiny, and because she wanted to assert 
her indifference to it, she remarked suddenly, after a 
moment : 

" Well, how do you like me by daylight? ” 

How do you like me ? ” he retorted, and laughed. 

She shook her head, and her eyes grew mischievous. 
Old,” she said; quite old and gray.” 

Old be damned ! Forty-eight is the prime of life.” 


132 


WINDING PATHS 


She was taking her seat, and gave a low chuckle of en- 
joyment at having drawn him. 

^^Ah, you may laugh now” he said, ^^but I’ll soon 
show you forty-eight is far more attractive than twenty- 
eight. Where shall we go ? 

I donT mind in the least, but I should prefer to steer 
for tea and buns.” 

Tea and buns ! . . . How like a woman ! . . . How 
can you expect to get the vote on tea and buns ? ” 

They were spinning along the Broughton Eoad now, 
heading for Putney and Eichmond, and Hal felt her spirits 
rising momentarily with the joy of the motion and comfort 
and fresh air. 

“We don’t expect to get it on tea and buns ; we expect 
to get it on whiskey and beer. That is to say, we expect the 
course of events to prove that tea and buns conduce to a 
frame of mind better able to cope with the questions of the 
day than the whiskey and beer drained in such quantities 
by men.” 

“And when you’ve got it you’ll all vote for the man 
who happens to be good-looking, and who can pay you the 
prettiest compliments.” 

“ A few will vote that way, no doubt, but not the ma- 
jority. Women are not so fond of pretty men as they 
were ” ; and her lips curled significantly. 

“ Pretty men ! . . .” he echoed, with enjoyment. 
“ Little woman, you have a neat way of putting things.” 

H>e was silent a few minutes, then added : 

i suppose, down at that ojffice they are all in love with 
you ? ” 

“ I don’t know. I haven’t asked them,” with twinkling 
eyes. “ I’m a bit in love with the chief myself.” 

“ Oh, you are, are you ? And what aged man might 
he be?” 

“ Oh, he’s quite old,” she laughed ; “ somewhere about 
forty-eight” 


WINDING PATHS 


133 


And is he in love with you ? ” 

It just depends. Sometimes he’s rather fond of me 
on a Saturday ; but on Mondays he loathes me.” 

" I see. And are you as changeable ? ” 

^‘No, I love him always; but on Mondays it’s mostly 
from habit. On Saturdays it’s from choice.” 

He looked down at her, and it was on the tip of his 
tongue to state some commonplace about being jealous. 
Then suddenly he looked back to his steering wheel, and the 
commonplace sentence died unspoken. Quite unaccount- 
ably he felt less inclined to flirt and more inclined to be 
really friendly, and for some distance they skimmed along 
in silence. 

They had tea at the Star and Garter, both chatting 
volubly on the most interesting topics of the day. Hal’s 
newspaper work had made her cognizant of many subjects 
very few girls of her age would even have heard of, and 
her original criticisms delighted him. It was a gay little 
tea table, and the time slipped by with extraordinary 
rapidity. Hal noticed it flrst. 

Do you know it is half-past six ? ” she said, and I’m 
dining out to-night. We must fly.” 

Is it really past six ? . . .” in astonishment. How 
the time has flown! You know, you are such an enter- 
taining little woman, you make me forget everything but 
yourself.” He looked at her hard, and the force of habit 
caused him to add : I doubt if any other woman I know 
to-day could have given me so much pleasure.” 

^'Well, you needn’t thank me,” with her low, fresh 
laugh, because I came entirely to give myself pleas- 
ure.” 

^^Then I hope you have succeeded. I see it is quite 
hopeless to expect any sort of a complimentary speech from 
you.” 

Quite; though I don’t mind admitting I have been 
very enjoyably entertained as well.” 


134 


WINDING PATHS 


That is something, anyhow. And now I suppose you 
are going straight off home to dress, and dine with some one 
else, and forget about me ? ” 

‘^I don’t suppose I shall forget you. It happens to 
be a journalist dinner, and probably we shall tear you to 
pieces between us before we have finished.” 

Well, I’d rather you did that than forget me.” 

She felt him looking hard into her face, with something 
a little sinister in his expression, and she got up and turned 
away. 

Why do you turn away when I am interested ? Don’t 
you think you might be a little pleased that I don’t want 
you to forget me ? ” 

He asked the question with a humorous twinkle, though 
she felt that he meant it seriously as well. This last, how- 
ever, she was clever enough to ignore, and merely threw 
him a mischievous glance over her shoulder as she an- 
swered : 

^^Well, I have to consider Brother Dudley’s attitude, 
you see; and I’ve a notion he would be best pleased for 
both the incident and motorist of Sunday evening to be 
forgotten.” 

He got up slowly, looking amused. 

I suppose he would be horrified at this outing? ” 

I strongly suspect he would.” 

What if he hears you were out motoring at Kichmond 
with me ? ” 

Oh, well, I shall tell him you are old enough to be my 
father, and not to be absurd.” 

^^Why do you harp on my age so? ... If I am old 
enough to be your father, it doesn’t follow that I’m too old 
to be your lover ? ” 

He was standing close to her now, looking down into her 
face, and Hal felt a little conscious tremor run through her 
blood. She faced him squarely, however, and answered in a 
gay, careless voice: 


WINDING PATHS 


135 


“ Of course it doesn’t, only, as I don’t happen to want 
a lover, it’s a contingency not worth considering.” 

“ Perhaps the post is already filled ? ” he suggested, re- 
fusing likewise to be daunted. 

Quite filled. It’s a case for a placard stating ^ House 
Full,’ and you,” she finished, would naturally be at the 
tail end of the queue which has to go away.” 

He laughed with relish, and gave it up. 

I can see you will take some taming,” he said, as he 
handed her into the car. " My weighty and important posi- 
tion evidently does not impress you in the least.” 

Of course not, as you’re a Liberal. They have so few 
really good men, they have to take anything they can get. 
Back up the Budget and the Chancellor, and exhibit a 
colossal amount of impudence, and there you are ! ” 

Well, there isn’t much to boast of in the way of men 
on the Conservative side, is there? Chiefly a collection of 
cousins, and second cousins, and cousins by marriage, 
shoved in by a few interfering old aunts. You don’t need 
me to tell an enlightened young woman like you that even 
impudence might serve the country better than cousinship.” 

" I wonder sometimes if any of you honestly put the 
country first at any time; or whether it is just a popular 
name for a very big ^ me ’ ? ” 

You are such a little skeptic. Do you always credit 
people with self-interested motives ? ” 

I don’t know that I do ; but if you are a city worker 
it is a fairly safe basis to work upon, until you can find 
proof that you are wrong.” 

He looked down at her with amusement. 

What a wise little head it is ! Do you know, I don’t 
think I ever met anyone quite like you before.” 

What you have missed ! ” was the gay rejoinder, and 
they both laughed. 

I suppose I mustn’t take you home ? ” as they neared 
Piccadilly. Brother Dudley might see us ? ” 


136 


WINDING PATHS 


^^No, thanks. If you will drop me at Hyde Park 
Corner I will take a homely bus, and return to my Blooms- 
bury level.” 

Until my next free afternoon, I hope. Will you come 
again soon ? ” 

Perhaps.” 

What do you do on Sundays ? ” 

I generally go out with Dick Bruce.” 

" Does Dick Bruce consider himself entitled to every 
Sunday ? ” 

Well, I consider myself entitled to Dick ! ” laugh- 
ing. 

You’re evidently very fond of Dick.” 

Very,” with enthusiasm. I have been for twenty- 
five years. We were like the two babies in Punch which 
said, ^ Help yourself and pass the bottle.’ ” 

‘‘Dick’s a lucky devil. Does he take Saturday after- 
noons as well ? ” 

“ No ; he plays cricket or hockey then.” 

“ Then may I have a Saturday afternoon ? ” 

“It would be jolly”; and a swift gleam in her eyes 
told him she meant it. 

“Very well. I shall consider that a promise. The 
first Saturday I can arrange, we’ll run down to some little 
place on the coast, and get some sea air. And if you feel 
inclined to vsrrite me a letter between now and then, send 
it to York Chambers, Jermyn Street.” 

He pulled up, and instantly she exclaimed in haste ; 

“ Oh, there’s my bus. Good-by, thanks awfully ; I 
must fly ” ; and before he could get in another word, 
he saw her clambering on to a motor omnibus, with the 
utmost unconcern for his sudden, astonished solitari- 
ness. 

“ Gad ! . . . What a woman she’ll be one day,” was his 
comment. “ If she’d a hundred thousand pounds I wouldn’t 
mind marrying her myself ; she’d never let a chap get bored. 


WINDING PATHS 


137 


1^11 warrant/’ He moved slowly down Piccadilly. Most 
of them do/’ he cogitated ; “ it doesn’t seem as if there were 
one woman in a thousand who didn’t soon become a bore. 
Heigh-ho, but debts are more boring still sometimes, and I 
want a fifty-thousand check badly.” 


CHAPTER XV 


When Hal went to tell Lorraine of her adventure she 
found her a victim of the prevailing malady, kept indoors 
two days with influenza. She was not in bed, but lying on 
a sofa, by a small fire, looking very frail and ill. Hal did 
not say much, as Lorraine disliked fussing, but her heart 
smote her to think she had been absent two days while her 
friend was a prisoner. 

Why didnT you tell Jean to ’phone me? ” she asked. 

I would have got here somehow.” 

Instead of answering, Lorraine nestled down into her 
cushions, and said: 

It’s dreadful nice to see you, chummy.” 

Hal drew up a footstool, and sat down with her head 
against the sofa. 

What does the court physician say. Lorry ? Of course 
he is generally fathering and brothering and mothering 
you as well as doctoring ? ” 

^^Yes; he is taking care of me in a sort of all-round, 
comprehensive fashion. I don’t know what I should do 
without him.” 

Do ! . . . ” with a little laugh. Why, just have 
another court physician instead.” Hal’s eyes strayed round 
the room. What lovely flowers, Lorraine ! Don’t they 
almost make you feel a corpse ? ” 

They would if they were white, I dare say.” 

On a little table by the sofa was a bowl of violets, 
looking very sweet and homely among the beautiful exotics 
filling all the other vases. Hal buried her nose in them. 

138 


WINDING PATHS 


139 


How delicious ! Who ventured to send your royal 
highness anything so homely as violets ? ” 

Lorraine’s eyes rested on them with a look of tenderness. 

Some one not very well off,” she said, who had the 
perspicacity to know I should value them from him more 
than the choicest blooms.” 

It sounds as if it might have been Dick. Was it ? ” 

No.” 

Lorraine replied in a careless tone, suggesting there 
was no special interest attached to the giver, but, for some 
unknown reason, Hal chose to be inquisitive. 

The Three Graces are your only ‘ hard-up ’ friends, 
and Quin is down East, so he would not know you were ill. 
Surely Baby didn’t think it all out by himself, and actually 
go into a shop and buy them ? ” 

^^You shouldn’t call Mr. Hermon Baby, Hal; it isn’t 
quite fair.” 

Oh, yes it is, as long as he is so objectless and purpose- 
less. Besides, his face is so cherubic I can’t help it.” 

I call his face very manly.” 

Well, so it is — in a way : but it’s cherubic also ; and 
then he’s so dreadfully placid. If he’d only wake up and 
boil over about something.” 

She was silent a few moments, and then said suddenly : 

Do you know Sir Edwin Crathie, Lorraine ? ” 

"No; why? I know of him.” 

" What do you know of him ? ” 

" Oh, nothing much. I believe he is a great lady’s 
man.” 

"I’ve met him,” said Hal; and she proceeded to tell 
of the motor mishap and subsequent meeting. 

Lorraine was interested and amused, but for some 
strange reason Hal did not tell the tale with her usual 
gusto, and nothing in her voice or manner suggested it was 
more than the most casual of meetings. Lorraine, a little 
preoccupied with her own feelings, for a wonder did not 


140 


WINDING PATHS 


discern that Hal treated the incident with a lightness not 
quite natural, considering how exceedingly unlooked-for it 
was, and before the recital was quite finished Jean looked 
in to inquire if Lorraine would see Mr. Hermon. Lorraine 
replied in the affirmative, and a moment later Alymer Her- 
mon entered the room. 

I^m so sorry you are not well,^^ he said, in his frank, 
pleasant way. I only heard of it last night.” 

And then you sent me violets. It was nice of you. I 
appreciate them so much.” 

I guessed Dick,” put in Hal, who had not risen from 
her stool. I did not think you would have the energy to 
think of them.” 

I have been feeling rather exhausted since,” he told 
her lightly. 

Take the armchair,” said Lorraine smilingly, and 
have a good rest.” 

Do,” echoed Hal. I’m sure you are tired out with 
your day’s work.” 

Don’t be so superior,” he retorted. Just because 
you can type a certain number of words per minute, you 
give yourself such airs.” 

“ Well, that’s a better reason than the fact of being a 
few inches longer than most people.” 

Now you two,” put in Lorraine, don’t start quarrel- 
ing in such a hurry. Try and be nice and polite to each 
other for a few minutes.” 

Baby doesn’t like me when I’m polite,” said Hal. 

I’ve never had a chance to judge.” 

Liar. What about the first time we met ? ” 

I thought you were rather nice in those days. Your 
offensive attitude is only of comparatively recent date.” 

Oh, don’t sit there like a stodgy old bookworm, reel- 
ing off nicely rounded sentences.” 

I hoped it might impress you with the incongruity of 
addressing me as an infant.” 


WINDING PATHS 


141 


Hal looked up from her lowly seat with a mischievous, 
engaging expression. 

You know you really are rather clever in a useless 
sort of fashion,” she informed him. 

Thank you,” making a bow. 

CanT you tell him how to be clever in a useful sort of 
fashion, with all your practical experience ? ” suggested 
Lorraine. 

Oh, I could; but what’s the use ? He doesn’t want to 
know. It would mean hard work.” 

Give him the benefit of a suggestion, anyhow.” 

Well, other briefless barristers peg away at journalism, 
and political agency work, and coaching, and studying. 
Baby just sits down and looks nice, as if he thought the 
briefs would come fluttering round him like all the silly, 
pink-cheeked, wide-eyed girls. You ought to have seen 
our little maid the night he dined with us. When she first 
saw him she seemed to mutter ^ 0 my ’ in a breathless 
fashion, and when she handed him his plate, she spilled all 
the gravy on to his knee, gazing into his face.” 

Hermon looked a little annoyed. ^^Yery few people 
can talk absolute rot in a clever way,” he aimed at her. 

Hal laughed. 

^^Why, that drew you. Baby! You look quite ruffled. 
I was only pulling your leg: the pink-cheeked girls don’t 
really flutter round ; they run away in terror at your scowl. 
You know he can scowl, Lorraine. At least it isn’t exactly 
a scowl ; it’s more a cast-iron solemnity of such degree that 
it has a Medusalike effect and freezes the poor little peach- 
blossom girls into putty images.” 

I’m sure Mr. Hermon never gives his personal appear- 
ance a thought,” Lorraine replied, except when you insist 
upon harping on it.” 

^‘1 can’t help it. I feel he’s hemmed in with such a 
sticky, treacly, simpering amount of youthful adoration 
generally, that I simply have to rag him for his good ! ” 


142 


WINDING PATHS 


It’s very kind of you to be so interested in my wel- 
fare ” — a twinkle gleamed suddenly in his blue eyes — I 
certainly like your way of adoring the best.” 

“ Ah ” — with an answering twinkle — “ I didn’t think 
you had guessed my secret. How embarrassing of you ! 
You have positively driven me away.” She rose to her feet. 
“ I must go, Lorry. I can’t sit it out any more. He has dis- 
covered that I adore him.” 

“You both seem rather imbecile to-night,” Lorraine 
commented; “but surely it needn’t drive you away, 
Hal.” 

“ I must go all the same. We have visitors coming. I 
shall run in again to-morrow. Be sure and ’phone me if 
there is anything I can do for you.” She kissed Lorraine, 
and turned to Hermon. “ Good-by. Don’t display all your 
best allurements to Lorraine this evening, because she isn’t 
strong enough for it. Eemember my unhappy plight, and 
let one victim satisfy you for the present.” 

“ What about your victims ? ” he asked. “ Dick is kick- 
ing the toes of his boots thin because he saw you yesterday 
with Sir Edwin Crathie.” 

Hal colored up, much to her own disgust, and greatly to 
Hermon’s enjoyment, who immediately followed up his 
advantage with : 

“ I suppose we shall all have to cry small now, because 
of the right honorable gentleman.” 

“ It will be a puzzler for you to cry small,” was her 
rather feeble retort, as she passed out. 

Hermon came back and reseated himself in the big arm- 
chair. 

“ May I stay ? ” he asked, and Lorraine answered : 

“ Yes, do,” in the frank spirit she had told herself must 
be her attitude toward him. 

So he sat on with an air of content, seeming to fill some 
place in the pretty room by right of an old comradeship, or 
some blood tie, or a mutual understanding — an intangible. 


WITOTNG PATHS 


143 


indefinable attitude that had sprung into being between 
them of itself. 

Lorraine did not talk much, because she was tired, but 
she let the goodly sight of him, and the quiet rest of him, 
lull and soothe her senses for the passing moment without 
any disturbing questioning. Hermon likewise did not 
question. He liked being there, and she seemed willing for 
him to stay, and it seemed enough. 

Once or twice lately he was conscious that he had been 
rather foolish with different admiring friends of the fair 
sex ; and though he was no prig, and knew most men took 
kisses and caresses when offered, and would have thought it 
a needless throwing away of good things to refuse, he yet 
felt a little irritated with himself and the givers without 
quite knowing why. 

And there was another trying incident over a girl he had 
met at various country houses the previous summer, and 
greatly enjoyed a flirtation with. Unfortunately, she ap- 
peared not to have understood it in the light of a flirtation ; 
and now she was writing him miserable, reproachful love- 
letters which had at any rate succeeded in making him wish 
he had been more circumspect. It soothed his ruffled feel- 
ings to be with Lorraine ; and it flattered his vanity to feel 
that she liked him there. 

They had been sitting quietly some little time when the 
front-door bell announced another caller, and Jean came 
to inquire if her mistress would see Lord Denton. Lorraine 
half unconsciously glanced at Hermon, and seeing an ex- 
pression of disappointment on his face, said quietly : Ask 
him to come to-morrow, Jean. I am very tired to-night.” 

Jean went away, and presently returned with a lovely 
bouquet of malmaisons, and three or four new books. His 
lordship will call about twelve,” she said : and he hopes, 
if you feel able to go out, you will let him take you in his 
motor.” Then she went out, leaving them alone again. 

In the pause that followed, Lorraine lay silently watch- 


144 


WINDING PATHS 


ing him for some minutes, wondering what was passing in 
his mind. Although it was only September still, the even- 
ings were drawing in quickly, and there was little light in 
the room except the flickering glow of cheerful flames on 
the hearth. They caught the glint of his hair and shone on 
his face, throwing the delicate, aristocratic features with 
cameolike distinctness on the black shadow beyond. 

Lorraine looked again, with the eyes of a connoisseur, 
and she knew that in very truth no merely handsome face 
and form were here, but a nature and character correspond- 
ing to the outward beauty of line and lineament. She won- 
dered once more as she lay there what it must be to have 
borne such a son ; and a surging, aching, tearing pain filled 
her heart for the longing to have known from experience. 
She felt she could have been a saint among women for 
very joy, and an ideal companion, as well as a mother to 
such as he. 

And instead 

Well, there were murky corners in the background for 
her as well as her mother, but never from actual seeking. 
When necessity had not driven her, loneliness had, and the 
gnawing ache of a fine, fearless soul to grasp some satisfac- 
tion from the sorry scheme of things. And always the satis- 
faction had passed so quickly ... so quickly, driving the 
starved soul back on itself again, with a little extra weight 
added to its burden of bitter knowledge. 

Was there then no counterpart for her — ^no twin soul — 
no strong, true comrade, to say you and I when sorrow 
and disillusion came, and so rob pain of its deepest sting ? 

Then, as if he felt her scrutiny, he turned his face to her 
slowly, and looked into her eyes. 

You know you are looking rather bad,” he said a little 
awkwardly and shyly. I’m awfully sorry. I hope you are 
taking care of yourself.” 

I don’t suppose I should worry much if left to myself,” 
she told him, with a touch of lightness ; but a very stern 


WINDING PATHS 


145 


physician, and a most resolute maid, insist upon giving me 
every possible attention.” 

It doesn’t tire you ... my being here ? ” 

No; I like it.” 

I wonder why ? ” 

Do you always want to know the why of things ? ” 

I’m afraid I don’t as a rule bother much, but this is a 
little amazing, isn’t it?” 

I don’t see why you should think so.” 

He studied the fire again. 

Only that you are at the top of the ladder, and I am 
at the bottom.” 

I was once there, too.” 

And did it seem as if it would be impossible ever to 
reach the top ? ” 

Yes, often. I don’t think anything but resolute, iron 
determination ever takes anyone up. Infiuence helps a 
good many up the lower rungs, and saves them a lot of 
the drudgery, but it cannot do much else, and unless one is 
full of grit and purpose at heart, one sticks there.” 

" Still, it must be a great help to be pulled through the 
drudgery.” 

It may mean a good deal of loss also.” 

How?” 

"I don’t suppose success that is won through favor 
means half so much to the winner as success that is 
wrenched from Fate by one’s own resolute hands. The 
only thing is, one wonders so often afterwards if it has 
been worth while.” 

Do you wonder that ? ” 

‘^Ah! . . . Don’t I?” 

He said nothing, and she went on : 

^^All the same, I imagine I had to succeed or die. I 
was built that way. Nothing less than success would have 
satisfied me. I often crave for quiet, restful happiness 
now, but if it had been offered then I should have passed 


146 


WINDING PATHS 


it by and struggled blindly for fame. Still, it is hard to 
think how easily one can take a false step, and suffer for 
it till the end.^^ 

^^Did you do that?” 

He turned his eyes to her again, and she saw a sympathy 
in them that was deeper than any feeling he had shown 
her yet. 

Yes. I was in a very tight corner, and I took a short 
cut out. I married for money and influence. The step 
brought me all I anticipated, but it brought other things 
as well, that I had chosen not to remember : nausea, ennui, 
self-disgust, loneliness, emptiness. I think I should never 
have won through without Hal.” 

And is your husband living ? ” 

Yes. In America. We have not troubled each other 
for a long time. I suppose I am fortunate in being left 
alone.” She was silent a few minutes, and then she told 
him kindly : Hal says they always chaff you about marry- 
ing an heiress, for the sake of being rich without any need 
to work; but take my advice, and don’t force the hand 
of Pate before she has had time to give you good things 
in her own time.” 

He turned to her with a very engaging smile as he 
answered : 

They chaff me about a good many things, but most 
of them are a little wide of the mark. I haven’t any lean- 
ing at present toward a paid post as husband.” 

I’m glad ; but I didn’t for a moment suppose you had 
seriously. I wonder what you have a leaning toward?” 
she added. 

" I should like to succeed.” He sat forward suddenly 
and leaned his chin on his hands, resting his elbows on 
his knees, and stared hard at the flames. I care a great 
deal more about succeeding really than anyone believes; 
but I’m afraid I’m not cut out for it.” 

I should like to help you,” she said simply. 


WINDING PATHS 


147 


You are very good/’ he answered, still looking hard 
into the fire. 

Lorraine got up and moved slowly about the room, 
touching a flower here, and a flower there, and rearranging 
them with deft fingers. She turned on an electric light 
with a soft shade, and glanced at the books Flip Denton 
had brought her. 

Hermon sat back in his chair and watched her. He 
thought he had never seen her lovelier than she looked in 
the homely simplicity of a graceful tea-gown, and her 
thick black hair coiled in a large loose knot low on her 
neck. It gave her an absurdly youthful air, but somehow 
seemed far removed from the brilliant star as he knew 
her on the stage. 

Then she came toward him, and stood beside him, 
resting one foot on the fender and one hand on the mantel- 
piece : and he saw, with swift seeing, the shapeliness of the 
long, thin fingers and the graceful, rounded arm. 

You are thoughtful, mon ami’' she said, with a soft 
lightness. Tell me what you are thinking of.” 

^^I don’t know. I don’t think I am thinking at all. 
I feel rather as if I were sunning myself in your smiles, 
like a cat.” 

You like being here, like this? ” 

I love it.” 

^^Then come often. Why not?” 

I shall bore you.” 

I think not. It is pleasant to me also to have some 
one keeping me company in such a natural, homely way. 
You see, I am very much alone. I have no women friends 
except Hal, who is nearly always engaged; and there are 
not many men one can invite to come and sit by one’s 
fireside. You seem to come so naturally and simply. It 
is clever of you. Very few men could. It is difficult to 
believe you are only twenty-four.” 

I fancy years often do not go for very much. I have 


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WINDING PATHS 


traveled about alone a great deal. Anyhow, you are just 
as young for thirty-two as I am old for twenty-four.’’ 

Hal has helped to keep me young. She restores me 
like some patent elixir. I suppose I love her more than 
anyone in the world.” 

I’m not surprised,” he answered. ‘‘ A good many 
people love Hal. Dick and Quin just dote on her.” 

She looked at him keenly a moment. 

I am spared wasting my affections,” he added, by 
her obvious contempt for me.” 

She doesn’t mean any of it. She only wants to rouse 

you.” 

Still, she succeeds in making me feel rather a worm.” 

Lorraine made no comment, but she could not resist 
a little inward smile at the thought of anyone making such 
a man feel a worm. She realized there might be no harm 
in the leavening influence. 

The clock struck seven, and he gave a start, rising 
quickly to his feet beside her. Lorraine was a little under 
medium height if anything, and as they stood together 
he seemed to tower above her like some splendid prehistoric 
human, while she appeared as some exquisite miniature, 
or frail and perfect piece of Dresden china. 

And again it seemed as if his physical beauty acted 
upon her with some irresistible magnetism, flowing round 
her and over her and through her, till she was enveloped 
and obsessed by him. 

His age was nothing, years a mere detail; she felt 
only that he was a splendid creature, and everything in 
her gloried in it. She rested her hand lightly on his arm. 

How big you are. You almost overpower me.” 

He smiled down at her, but it was just a quiet, friendly 
smile, and she could not tell if her touch stirred him. 

I’m afraid I am rather a monster. It is sometimes 
a nuisance.” 

Ah, don’t say that. I am quite sure the first Adam 


WINDING PATHS 


149 


was as big as you, and Eve was frightened and ran away, 
but she wouldnT for the world have had him an inch 
smaller. And every true Eve since has gloried in the 
man who towered above her, and was a little terrifying in 
his strength. Don’t let them spoil you,” she added with 
a note of wistfulness, all the Eves who must needs follow 
with or without your bidding.” 

I imagine Hal will counteract much of that ; and 
the feeling, when I am with you, that I am just a great, 
brainless, useless animal.” 

^^No; you are not that; and you are quite extraor- 
dinarily unspoiled as yet. Come and see me again soon, 
when you’ve nothing better to do.” 

How soon ? ” 

He was looking hard into her face now, almost as if he 
were only just fully realizing her beauty, and she flushed a 
little as she met his ardent eyes and answered : 

^^As soon as you like.” 

Friday is my first free evening.” 

^^Then come and dine here quietly. I shall not act 
this week at all. I shall run down to the sea from Saturday 
to Monday.” 

She had intended to go on Friday afternoon, but with 
his nearness all Flip Denton’s sage advice vanished from 
her mind, and instead of running away as he urged, she 
went a step nearer to the temptation. 

When he had gone she sat down in the armchair he had 
used, and stared hard at the fire. Jean came in to urge 
her to go to bed, but she only said : 

No; I like this room and the fire. Bring me the fish, 
or whatever it is, here. I will go to bed about half-past 
eight if you like, but not before.” 

So she sat on, and in her heart she saw still the fine 
face, with its unspoiled freshness, and felt his presence 
still filling the room. 

It would seem Fate had brought her and Hal together 


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WINDING PATHS 


into the arena of new happenings and new feelings, for 
among the crowded houses of Bloomsbury, in a little high- 
up bedroom near the sky, Hal sat on the edge of her bed 
leisurely brushing her long, bright hair, and pondering a 
telephone message that had asked her to go for a motor 
ride the following Saturday. 

It means putting Amy off,^^ was her final cogitation, 
but I think I’ll go. It will be such fun, and I’m rather 
sick of work.” 

So, in spite of strong wills and common-sense warning, 
we still, as ever, let our footsteps follow the alluring paths, 
and go boldly forth to meet a joy, ever careless of the fol- 
lowing sorrow that may accompany it, until the hour for 
shunning is past. 


CHAPTER XVI 


The following Friday afternoon Lorraine went out 
with Flip Denton in his motor, and among his first ques- 
tions was: 

Well, how is the foolish falling in love progressing ? ” 
" It is stationary. I’ve got another friend I want to 
keep. Flip; another friend like you.” 

Ah, I can’t pass that. You were never even remotely 
in sight of falling in love with me. And you know what 
Kipling says : ^ Love’s like line-work ; you can’t stand still, 
you must go backward or forward.’ You don’t propose to 
take my advice and run away from it ? ” 

Not before I am sure there is danger, anyhow.” 

They were silent some moments, then she asked him: 

Do men ever run away. Flip ? . . . My experience 
has been that the average man always has a good try to 
get what he wants, without much consideration for out- 
side things, or for youth, or for harm.” 

That’s because beautiful women necessarily come 
up against the worst in men. It is their fate: one of 
the balancing conditions perhaps to make things more 
even with the less-favored women.” 

I suppose great beauty generally undoes a woman. 
Is it the same with men, too ? It seems a pity when Nature 
produces anything beautiful she should not guard it better 
— beautiful flowers, beautiful birds, beautiful creatures all 
ravished the quickest; while the little, comfortable daisies, 
and sparrows, and homely people go serenely on unharmed.” 

151 


152 


WINDING PATHS 


He did not reply, and they sped along in the under- 
standing silence they were both so fond of. 

Denton was thinking, as a man may, of various pretty 
faces that had been the undoing of their owners, and won- 
dering a little dimly and confusedly about the paradoxical 
contrariness of Nature, who gives a man his strongest 
desires nearly always toward forbidden ends. Why 
create a beautiful thing, and then create a longing for it, 
and then probably descend in wrath upon both heads 
which did but follow the bent she herself had given them ? 

Lorraine was wondering a little bitterly why a man 
may taste forbidden fruit again and again and go un- 
punished; and why a woman, so often set amid sterner 
temptations, was yet left so strangely unprotected: the 
one so quickly able to put an incident aside, and seek fresh 
fields for conquest; the other so terribly liable to be 
branded for life in that same incident. 

It made a bitterness surge up in her soul for her own 
unprotected girlhood and struggling youth; and for all 
they had brought her to learn of the tree of knowledge. 
No doubt she had been callous enough about it at the time; 
eager only to dare, and triumph, and achieve; but how 
should it have been otherwise, since no kindly guiding 
hand had told her she was wasting her powers and her sub- 
stance to achieve an end that would never satisfy her soul ? 

Did she even know she had a soul that would presently 
crave a satisfaction found only among the higher and better 
things, and turn away with infinite scorn from the petty 
triumphs of an hour or a day? 

Well, she had fought her fight with the rest, and tri- 
umphed greatly in the world’s eyes; and now she must 
abide by the path she had chosen, and glean the best satis- 
faction she could out of it. 

And yet 

Later in the afternoon, when she sat drinking a lonely 
cup of tea by a lonely fireside, the questioning, probing 


WINDING PATHS 


153 


mood returned again ; the significant and yet ” still left 
the last conclusion without any finality. Looking backward, 
a sense of resentment seemed to creep over her; a com- 
bative desire to get even with Pate about many things 
while there was time and opportunity. 

She remembered particularly the first man who had 
tried to lead her astray. He had been considerably more 
than twice her age, a hardened sinner without any com- 
punction, with a devilish cunning at breaking down de- 
fenses without any seeming overpersuasion, and at white- . 
washing his actions into passionate devotion to young, 
inexperienced years. She remembered how she had strug- 
gled to resist him. It was good to remember now that she 
had not been his victim. 

And yet, what of it, while such men could triumph again 
and again and go seemingly unpunished, and young, eager, 
ambitious souls were often so pitifully stranded at the 
beginning of a career? 

Men of his age and his. character usually did triumph. 
How often had she seen it since ! The first wrong step not 
a generous-hearted, hot-headed youth ; but a hardened sin- 
ner who had wearied of other hardened sinners and turned 
his evil designs to youth and freshness, hoping perchance 
to be rejuvenated thereby. 

And Nature stood by with folded hands, and saw her 
fairest creations soiled and ravished before they had reached 
maturity, without apparently the smallest compunction. 

Her first wrong step had been her marriage, and though 
it had given her a good deal in the beginning, in the end 
how it had robbed her! . . . Ah! how it had robbed her 
of those things that could never be won back. 

And now, by an unlooked-for turn of events, she found 
herself among the world-wearied ones, asking for the di- 
vine freshness of youth. If she chose to make him love her 
she believed she could. 

And yet 


154 


WINDING PATHS 


She stood beside the window and leaned her head 
against the framework, gazing at the river. It was gliding 
smoothly along now, beautified and glorified by the reflected 
light of a setting sun. How light transfigured ! 

The murky, muddy, sullen Thames, so often going 
with its countless burdens, as one enslaved unwillingly 
to the needs of commerce, now flashing, shining, silver 
waters hastening joyfully out to sea. She felt that often 
and often her life had been as the shadowed, murky waters, 
enslaved unwillingly by bonds that circumstances had 
created. 

She thought how his life, the life of this man who was 
beginning to fill her soul, was still like the joyous, shining, 
waters reflecting sunlight. Was it possible she wanted to 
bring the shadows and dim its silver radiance for her 
own gratification? 

And even so, was it in any case likely to go undimmed 
much longer ? The shadows were certain enough to come, 
if not through her, perhaps through some one with less 
soul, and less fineness of aim, who would do him far greater 
harm. Her love for him was not, at least, entirely selfish. 

She knew that she cared very much for his future. She 
cared very much that life should give him a chance to 
fulfill the best of his promise. 

And if the chance came by shadows, well, across the 
river of a man’s life they flitted lightly enough as a rule, 
chasing each other away, and leaving the waters still flow- 
ing joyfully. It was only for a woman, apparently, the 
shadows left a stain that even the sunlight could not chase 
away. 

It would seem woman was made a helpmeet for man 
in many ways besides that of keeping his home and bearing 
his children. How often did he owe his best development 
and best achievements to her, absorbing light from her in 
some mysterious ordering, and soaring away afterwards 
while she was left among the shadows. 


WINDING PATHS 


155 


Yet, by some equally mysterious compensation, a 
woman was often so fashioned that if she could feel the 
upward flight was won through her, she might rest satisfied 
even though him she loved had soared away. It was the 
mother-love blending strangely with the wife-love; the 
protecting, inspiring, unselfish, mothering instinct, lying 
in the soul of every true-hearted woman. 

Standing gazing at the flashing river, Lorraine, in the 
midst of her probing, knew that it was his ultimate success 
and good she wanted, as well as his freshness to sweeten 
her own life. 

And yet 

What if she brought a shadow where there would other- 
wise have been no shadow, dimmed a brightness that, with- 
out her, had gone undimmed ? She knew he was not weak 
naturally. He did not need any strengthening; only 
impetus, ambition, aim, and some safeguarding by the way. 

She smiled a little drearily at the recollection that it 
was from her, herself, that probably his own people would 
think he needed safeguarding. She could foresee that they 
would likely enough hurl themselves between him and 
her, oblivious that by doing so they might very possibly 
be the cause of driving him to far worse. But that, of 
course, no one could help; as how should they know the 
fine shades between the women who lived outside the con- 
ventions ? 

But then again, they need not know that the great 
friendship existed — why should they ? After all, few would 
credit the celebrated, beautiful actress with anything 
beyong a passing fancy for the j^outhful, briefless barrister. 

And yet 

Across every fresh pathway she turned her thoughts 
along, was still that arresting, intangible, and yet.” 

The pity of it ! At least he was strong, and true, and 
unspoiled now. Why not give life a chance to leave him so ? 
Why not give Fate a chance to endow him quickly with the 
11 


156 


WINDING PATHS 


rich, blessed love that kept a man walking straight and 
strong along his steadfast way ? 

But again the thought came back of what he would 
lose, what he must inevitably lose, if he missed the storm 
and stress and struggle that are as the mill and furnace 
through which the gold is refined, and hardened, and 
separated from the dross. 

She went back to the fireside feeling that her probing 
had brought her nowhither, and that she was only very 
tired and very depressed. 

Then she went slowly away to dress, and chose, some- 
what to Jean’s surprise, one of the simplest evening frocks 
she possessed. J ean, knowing the tall, beautiful new 
friend was coming to dinner, had laid out an elaborate 
dinner dress, and arranged the jewel cases for selec- 
tion. 

Put them away at once,” was all her mistress said, 
with one sweeping glance round. I shall wear that little 
blue Liberty gown and a single row of pearls.” 

When Alymer came he found her already seated by the 
fire, engaged with some knitting. 

How nice and homely,” he said. I never associated 
you with anything so commonplace as sewing.” 

I’m afraid I can’t sew very well,” with a little smile. 

I can knit this, and that is about all.” 

Are you better ? ” and he scanned her face critically, 
in an old-fashioned way that gave her secret joy. 

^^Yes, sir, thank you,” with a low laugh. 

He laughed, too, and took up his stand on the hearth 
rug, with his hands behind his back, in a natural, quite-at- 
home way, that seemed to come easily to him. 

How jolly it is to see a fire. My mater always seems 
afraid of beginning too soon. I think she has a sort of 
feeling that if Winter sees fires started he will hurry.” 

I never leave them off. My fire is one of my stanch- 
est companions. An empty grate always depresses me, be- 


WINDING PATHS 


157 


cause if it is sunny and hot I want to be out-of-doors, and 
if it is not, I want my fire. Let us go to dinner, then we 
can get back and purr over it to our hearts’ content.” 

Because it pleased her to make him an honored guest, 
Lorraine had been at considerable pains in ordering her 
dinner, and she was gratified to observe that it was not 
wasted on him. 

Certainly, among other things at Oxford he had learned 
to know a good dinner and good wine, and enjoy them as 
a connoisseur. It amused her also to observe that the 
old-fashioned air with which he had inquired a little mas- 
terfully after her health, grew upon him as the evening 
progressed. 

She thought he must be a little bit of a tyrant to his 
mother, and anyone he was specially fond of. Not dicta- 
torially so, but with a humorous, half-satirical insistence 
that was very engaging. 

When they sat over the fire together, later, she found 
herself telling him many things about her early struggles, 
and first successes, not in the least in a talking down ” 
attitude, but as to a very sympathetic companion of her 
own age. 

It was evident he was truly interested, and this made 
him a charming listener. And he told her yet further of 
his own hopes, and disappointments, and discouragements. 
Several times since he took his degree, one friend or 
another had held out hopeful expectations of being able to 
put him on to this case or that, which might bring a brief. 
And always the hope had failed, and the promise ended in 
smoke. 

She gave him sympathy in her turn, and said she would 
not raise his expectations unkindly, but she believed she 
could really help him to get a start. She would speak to 
Lord Denton about it. He was always ready to do a little 
thing like that for her. 

He is one of those dear people,” she told him, who 


158 


WINDING PATHS 


seem to try to make up for their own incorrigible laziness 
by going out of their way to put some one else in the way 
of a start.” 

She saw the color deepen in his face, and a subdued 
light shine in his eyes, as he thanked her rather haltingly. 
The little show of diffidence was very charming. How 
far removed, how amazingly far removed he was from 
the average good-looking youth of twenty-four, who was 
usually so anxious to impress everyone with his attributes 
and his powers. 

And he was not even average. Every time she saw 
him she wondered afresh at his extraordinary wealth of 
attraction. One could have forgiven him a few airs and 
mannerisms ; but no forgiveness was asked : in every single 
phrase she found him always the modest, unassuming, 
high-bred gentleman. 

So they sat on and talked, and for the time being the 
warfare of the afternoon passed from her mind. Probing 
seemed suddenly out of place. Why probe? . . . Their 
friendship had slipped of itself into an old companionship. 
What need for more? She knew instinctively he would 
come often to fill her lonely hours, and tell her all about 
his work and his doings. 

And sometimes they would go out together on little 
jaunts. If they did, who need know, or who, at any rate, 
need gossip ? She felt a gladness grow in her mind at the 
thought of the happy friendship they might have ; guarded 
perhaps from harm by the disparity in their years, and at 
the same time of inestimable benefit to him, and pleasure 
to her. She felt almost motherly as she laid her fingers 
lightly on his arm, with a little laughing jest, as they stood 
together before parting. 

“ I have enjoyed my evening of invalidism so much. 
Come and see me again soon, won’t you ? ” 

I should love to. You are very good to me.” 

Oh, no ; I’m not. Don’t let us talk of goodness in that 


WmDING PATHS 


159 


way. I like your company; and it is good to have what 
one likes. I shall expect you again soon, Alymer — I may 
call you Alymer, mayn’t I? . . . Mr. Hermon is so over- 
powering.” 

I wish you would. I would have asked you, only I 
was afraid you might think it cheek.” 

Very well then, Alymer,'* with emphasis, when I 
have spoken to Lord Denton I will telephone you; and 
I hope he will he able to start you off on a road that will 
very nearly end in a verdict of ^ Suffocated with briefs.’ ” 

Or ^ briefly siiffocated,’ ” he laughed, and beat a hasty 
retreat, for fear of a reprisal. 

When he had gone, Lorraine sat again in the firelight, 
and it seemed as if the stress and unrest had fallen from 
her, and only the memory of a pleasant companionship 
remained. They were going to be the best of pals — why 
not — and why seek to probe any further? 

Apparently he was not susceptible, and cared more for 
his profession than anyone supposed, and so, since she 
liked to have him there to glory in his comeliness, they 
could form a mutual benefit society, and no one need be 
hurt at all. It was all quite simple, and she went to bed 
feeling rested and refreshed, and looking forward hope- 
fully for the pleasant meetings to come. 

Flip Denton was running down to Brighton for the 
week-end also, to take her out on the Sunday in his car; 
and he noticed at once that a shadow whidh had hovered 
over her eyes of late had vanished. 

You are looking topping,” he told her. What 
about the love affair, is it all satisfactorily off? It has 
been worrying you a little of late.” 

^^It is not exactly off,” she replied, ^^but it is more 
satisfactorily placed. We are going to be real good pals. 
He is going to keep me company^ in some of my lonely 
hours, and I am going to try and i®p him to get briefs. 
I am relying on you for the first one. Flip.” 


160 


WINDING PATHS 


The dickens you are. My dear girl, why should I put 
myself out to acquire a brief for a rival ? ’’ 

Oh, just because you are you. You know you will love 
it. Flip ! You will get him a brief, and then you will pat 
yourself on the back and say : ^ I know I’m a lazy dog my- 
self, but I’m a devil of a good chap at getting other fellows 
work.’ ” 

So I am ” — enjoying her thrust — and it’s a splendid 
line, and gives far more satisfaction in the end. If I tried 
to work I should only make a mess of it, and drive some one 
nearly crazy, whereas, in putting another chap on to a 
job I give such a lot of folks pleasure, I feel I am getting 
square with the Almighty.” 

^‘Then you’ll try. Flip?” 

If it is humanly possible, he shall have a brief of his 
very own within the next month. 

You are a dear. Sometimes I think you are the most 
adorable person I know.” 

“ You don’t think it long enough at a time. Lorry. You 
are too prone to go off suddenly after false gods measuring 
six foot five and a half inches and with the faces of Apollo 
Belvederes.” 

Probably it is a merciful precaution on the part of our 
guardian angels. Flip; and, anyhow, you know you like a 
little variation yourself in the way of bulk, and sound, prac- 
tical, indecorous chorus girldom.” 

^^I do,” was his unabashed affirmative. ^^Nice, com- 
fortable, elevating palliness with you; and a right-down 
rollicking bust-up occasionally with the ladies of the un- 
pretending school of wild oats.” 

I want my giant for the present to be satisfied with 
his palliness with me and his work. Do you think he will ? ” 

As I haven’t seen him I can’t say. If I get the chance, 
however. I’ll tell him that ‘ wild oats ’ are the very devil, 
and I’d give all I’ve got to have stuck to work and had 
naught to do with ’em.” 


WINDING PATHS 


161 


You know you wouldn’t, Flip,” with a little laugh. 

I know I couldn’t, you mean ; but I never admit it to 
juniors.” 

“ Well, you shall come to the flat to meet him. If he 
gets a brief, we’ll have a little dinner party, and I’ll ask 
Hal and her cousin and St. Quintin.” 

“ Eight you are. I haven’t seen Miss Pritchard for 
ages. Shall we turn now, and go back by Eottingdean ? ” 
Let us go whichever way has the best view of the sea. 
I feel I want to look at wide, breezy spaces for a while, and 
not talk at all.” 

"You shall,” he promised, and they sped along in 
silence. 


CHAPTER XVII 


When Hal sat on the side of her bed, brushing her hair 
and meditating on her irritation, she had not misjudged 
when she anticipated great enjoyment from an afternoon 
run with her new friend 

It would have been difficult indeed to say who enjoyed 
it the most. Hal was in great form, and Sir Edwin Crathie 
half unconsciously took his tone from her, dropping his 
usual attitude toward women he liked, and adopting instead 
one as gay and careless and inconsequent as hers. 

It was not in the nature of the man to desist from flirt- 
ing with her, but his pretty speeches were coupled with a 
humor and chaff that robbed them of any pointedness, and 
merely resulted in an amusing amount of parry and thrust, 
over which they both laughed whole-heartedly. 

^^You are an absolute witch,” he told her as they sat 
enjoying a big tea at an hotel on the south coast; ‘^ever 
since we started you have made me behave more or less like 
a schoolboy, and a tea like this is the climax.” 

It’s a good thing I am the only witness,” she laughed. 

The poorness of your jokes alone would have horrified 
your colleagues, but to see you eating such a tea must have 
meant a request for your resignation — it is so incompatible 
with the dignity of a Cabinet Minister.” 

^^I had almost forgotten I was a Cabinet Minister. 
Gad ! but it’s nice to get right away from the cares of office 
occasionally like this. When will you come again ? ” 

Oh, I don’t think I must come any more,” roguishly. 

I’m sure Brother Dudley will not consent.” 

162 


WINDING PATHS 


163 


^^Wliat has Brother Dudley got to do with it? . . . 
Did he consent this time ? 

‘^Not exactly. I anticipated his willingness.” 

" You little fibber. You mean you anticipated his firm 
refusal, and took French leave, so that you need not dis- 
obey him.” 

“ It is true that Dudley and I differ occasionally, but I 
do not disobey him ... if I can help it.” 

“ Well, if you took French leave this time, you can easily 
do it again.” 

" But this time it was a novelty. I was curious to find 
out how I should enjoy an afternoon with you.” 

Kubbish. You knew perfectly well you would enjoy 
it immensely. So did I. Two people who like each other 
always know those kind of things at once.” 

Hal leaned back in her chair, and her expressive mouth 
twitched in a way that made him long to kiss it hard. 

There are occasions when I don’t like you at all,” she 

said. 

Fibber again. When don’t you like me ? ” 

Chiefly when you are quite positive certain sure that 
I do.” 

Well, that is never ; so you are a fibber.” 

I thought you seemed particularly confident nine sec- 
onds ago.” 

I was only teasing you. I could hardly have been 
serious after you have called me a worm, and an old man. 
So now — when will you come again ? ” 

In about a month. Let’s go out as Guys on the fifth 
of November.” 

A month be blowed ! I want to know which day next 
week ? ” 

“ I am full up next week.” 

Full up of what ? ” 

Lorraine Vivian, Dick Bruce, Quin, the Beloved Chief, 
and the Baby.” 


164 


WINDING PATHS 


What a list ! Is Lorraine Vivian the actress ? Who 
are Quin and the Baby ? 

She is . . . and they are ! . . 

" Who does the Baby belong to ? 

It would be difficult to say. About a dozen probably 
claim him.” 

" And doesn’t he know his own mother ? ” 

Oh, I wasn’t thinking of mothers.” 

Who were you thinking of ? ” 

The ladies who have lost their hearts to him.” 

I see. Are you one of them ? ” 

I am not. You see, his beauty has never struck me all 
of a heap, because I’ve got so used to it.” 

Is he a beautiful baby, or a youth, or a man ? ” 

A bit of all three. He stands six feet five and a half 
inches, and is superbly handsome. I call him sometimes, 
for variation, the stuffed blue-and-gold Apollo.” 

Well, that’s better than ^ a positive worm,’ ” laughing, 
but I don’t mind him. Who is Quin ? ” 

Quin is a philanthropist, sentimentalist, and hero. 
He spends his life working in the East End.” 

I don’t mind him either, and Dick Bruce I’ve seen. 
The actress doesn’t count, and your precious chief you see 
every day. Now, then, when will you come again ? ” 

He got up from his seat and came round to her side of 
the table. He had a vague intention of imprisoning her 
hand, and perhaps her waist, but some indescribable quality 
held him off. It was difficult to suppose she did not 
half guess what was in his mind, and yet, without 
showing the smallest consciousness or shyness, she faced 
him with a look so boyishly frank and open it utterly 
disarmed him. 

“ I am not a bit more persuasive on my right side than 
my left, and I have promised next Saturday to the Three 
Graces — who are Dick and Quin and Baby. We are going 
to the Crystal Palace to see a football match.” 


WINDING PATHS 


165 


Then what about Sunday ? ” 

Oh, I canT come on Sunday.” 

Why not?” 

"I hardly know, except that it usually belongs to 
Dudley or Dick.” 

Next Sunday needn’t.” 

Well, that’s what I don’t know.” 

“ Yes, you do.” He moved a little nearer. ‘‘ You’ve got 
to keep next Sunday for me. It’s my turn. We’ll have a 
splendid day. We’ll take Peter, and we’ll start early and 
fly down to the New Forest. It’s glorious in the au- 
tumn. We’ll have a picnic lunch, and tea at an hotel on 
the way back. So that’s settled.” He got up, and lifted 
her ulster from the back of a chair. Now come along 
and we’ll slip home before it gets late enough to cause 
trouble.” 

Hal let it pass for the time, and got into her ulster. She 
was clever enough to see the advantage of retaining a way 
of escape if she changed her mind, or accepting the invita- 
tion if she wanted to later on. 

She loiew perfectly well a girl did not always go out for 
a whole day with a man like Sir Edwin with impunity ; but 
she had also something of contempt for a girl who missed 
a great treat for want of pluck. She preferred to leave the 
question open, and if she badly wanted to go at the end of 
the week she would not, at any rate, stay away because she 
was afraid. 

As it happened, circumstances played into Sir Edwin 
Crathie’s hands. About Wednesday, with a diffidence that 
made Hal secretly amused and secretly curious, Dudley 
asked her if she would mind if he was away for the whole 
day on Sunday. As she was generally away herself as long 
as the summer lasted, she wondered why he should ask her in 
that manner. It was just as they had finished breakfast, 
and he busied himself with his pipe-rack as he made the 
•announcement. 


166 


WINDING PATHS 


Of course I don’t mind/'’ she said. Are you going 
into the country ? 

Ye — es.” He seemed about to add something further, 
but changed his mind Hal, with a little inward chuckle, 
divined by his manner he must be going somewhere with a 
lady, and she was pleased, as she liked a man to have woman 
friends, believing they made him more broad-minded and 
tolerant and generous-hearted if well-chosen. 

She asked no further question, however, and Dudley 
commenced to whistle softly as he drew on his boots. Evi- 
dently his mind was somewhat relieved after the sentence 
was said. 

So now it remained to discover Dick’s attitude. She 
could, of course, quite easily put him off ; but she was not 
quite prepared to do this of her own initiative, as he had so 
generously placed all his Sundays at her disposal. On Fri- 
day, however, he was speaking to her through the telephone. 

‘^I say, Hal, you’re coming to the Footer match to- 
morrow, aren’t you ? ” 

Yes, of course I am. Why ? . . .” 

^^Well, it’s just this way. I was going to motor the 
pater to Aunt J udith’s, and I forgot all about it. He wants 
me to take him on Sunday instead. What shall I do ? . . . 
Would you care to come, too? ” 

Hal had not the smallest wish to go to Aunt Judith’s, 
who belonged to the old school, and disapproved in a most 
outspoken manner of lady clerks of every sort and descrip- 
tion. It was a constant grievance to her, when she set 
eyes on Hal, that she did not gratefully accept £20 a year as 
a governess to young children, instead of £120 as secretary 
to a well-known, interesting editor. 

In consequence, Hal encountered her as little as possible, 
accepted gratefully her interesting, easy billet, and con- 
signed the imaginary young children to a Hades peopled 
with nursery governesses. 

Awfully sweet and good and kind of you, Dicky dear,” 


WINDING PATHS 


167 


she called back to him mockingly, but I think I’ll practice 
a little self-denial this time, and stay away.” 

Odd you should say that,” he laughed, because I 
consider I’m practicing a little self-denial in going. What 
shall you do with yourself? Will Dudley be at home? ” 

No ; he’s going somewhere for the day, that has a 
nervous, apologetic sort of air about it. I didn’t press for 
particulars, but I’m dying to know. I can’t believe he 
would really take a gay young person out, and yet, judging 
by his manner, it might be a real flyer from Daly’s.” 

Good old Dudley ! ; . . Then I suppose you will go to 
Lorraine ? ” 

Yes, I dare say I shall. Good-by, see you Satur- 

day.” 

Hal returned to her work in a meditative mood. She 
was beginning to wonder why she had not had any message 
from Sir Edwin all the week. Had he changed his mind, or 
had he possibly forgotten? If he rang her up presently 
what was she going to say ? 

The notion that he had perhaps forgotten was not pleas- 
ing; and yet, with all he must have to think about during 
the week, it was equally not surprising. As a matter of fact, 
it had been a most trying week for all Ministers. 

The party was emphatically growing into disfavor, and 
all brains had to be utilized to find the most efficacious 
remedy. Sir Edwin had been very useful in his suggestions, 
for he had had considerable practice in getting what he 
wanted by artfulness if no straighter mode offered. 

His suggestions to His Majesty’s Cabinet were master- 
pieces of political trickery, and their adoption was a fore- 
gone conclusion in spite of the Ministers who raised objec- 
tions. The party had to win back favor somehow, and at 
any rate his were the best plans that offered. 

But all through the stirring meetings of the week he 
never once forgot Hal. His silence was merely an adapta- 
tion of the policy he was urging upon his colleagues. If I 


168 


WINDING PATHS 


leave her alone till Friday she will get piqued/’ was his 
thought, and then she will come.” 

Accordingly, soon after the luncheon hour he rang her 
up. 

Halloo/’ he called. At last I have got a moment to 
speak to you.” 

What has happened to all the other moments ? ” she 
asked. 

We’ve had a very anxious, worrying week in the House. 
I’ve scarcely had time to get my meals. You surely didn’t 
suppose I had forgotten you — did you ? ” 

I didn’t suppose either way. It didn’t matter.” 

The man at the other end of the wire smiled openly in 
his empty room. Prevaricator,” was his thought ; but, 
by Gad, she’s game.” 

Well, anyhow I hadn’t, and I wasn’t likely to. I only 
hope you haven’t made another engagement for Sunday? 
I’m badly in need of a long day in the country. Are you 
still free ? ” 

It depends ” 

“ Oh, nonsense ; you can’t desert me at the last moment. 
If I can’t get that day off to run down to the New Forest, 
I shall have to go to a tiresome political luncheon party. 
Now, be patriotic, and serve your country by attending to 
the needs of one of her harassed Ministers.” 

" I am always patriotic.” 

Then that settles it. I suppose I’d better not call for 
you. I’ll pick you up at South Kensington Station at 9.30. 
Peter will make an excellent chaperon, so you needn’t worry 
— good-by ” ; and he rang off, leaving Hal to hang up the 
receiver, not quite sure whether she had been trapped or 
not. 

At his end he moved across to a window with the smile 
still lingering on his face. 

Nothing like making up a woman’s mind for her,” he 
mused ; they’re all alike when they are on the edge of the 


PATHS 


169 


stream, hesitating about the plunge. Give ^em a little shove, 
and once they’re in they swim out boldly enough. The 
trouble is, when they want to keep the whole river for them- 
selves and will not brook any other swimmers. 

expect I’m going to have a devil of a time with 
Gladys, and she’ll take a lot of squaring. Women are the 
deuce when you’re short of funds. But I can’t help being 
susceptible, and Hal has caught my fancy altogether. Dear 
little girl, I expect she’ll want a big shove yet before she’ll 
take the real plunge. But it’s interesting, by Jove ! it’s in- 
teresting ; and when she looks a veiled defiance at me with 
those candid, mischievous eyes of hers, I know I’ve got to 
win somehow.” 

Hal went back to her work, feeling a little as if she had 
been swept off her feet; and she was not entirely without 
misgivings. The possible impropriety of going out alone 
with a man for the whole day did not trouble her, but the 
nature of the man, she was shrewd enough to perceive, was 
a doubtful point. 

Of course she was perfectly aware that Aunt Judith, for 
instance, and Dudley, and probably her mother, had she 
been alive, would have been scandalized at such a proceed- 
ing; but then she had pluckily fended for herself so long, 
she did not consider she was any longer called upon to 
mold her actions according to their views. She belonged 
to the large army of women who have to spend so much of 
their time on office chairs that their comparatively few hours 
of pleasure have no room for the ordinary conventions that 
hem round the leisured, home- walled maiden. 

If a treat offered, and it was reasonably within bounds, 
they took it and were thankful and gave no thought to the 
possibly uplifted hands of horror among possibly restricted 
relatives. She was one of those who enjoy the freedom of 
the American girl, without being of those who, unfortu- 
nately, often fall short of her level-headed characteristics ; 
largely perhaps through those very uplifted hands which 


170 WINDING PATHS 

suggest harm, where harm otherwise might never have been 
thought of. 

It was not, now, any suggestions born of uplifted hands 
that gave Hal that faint misgiving. It was that growing 
doubt concerning the nature of the man, and a conscious- 
ness that she was unduly pleased the treat was actually to 
take place — a growing consciousness that in spite of the 
doubt she cared more about seeing Sir Edwin Crathie than 
most men, with a like recognition that tliis might seriously 
endanger her own peace of mind. 

It was all very well to go out together on a basis of 
good-fellowship and mutual enjoyment, so long as neither 
cared anything beyond; but what if this unmistakable at- 
traction he exercised over her deepened and widened ? What 
if the commonplace, middle-class Hal Pritchard, secretary 
and typist, fell in love with Sir Edwin Crathie, the Cabinet 
Minister, and nephew of Lord St. Ives ? 

But she thrust the thought away, and apostrophized 
herself for a silly goose, who deserved to get hurt if she had 
not more sense. Was he not twice her age, and brilliantly 
clever (so his own party said), and so obviously out of her 
range altogether that it would be sheer stupidity to allow 
herself to feel anything beyond the frank fellowship they 
now enjoyed? She insisted vigorously to herself that it 
would, and went off to have dinner with Lorraine, who was 
once more delighting her London audience nightly. 

It was a curious thing which occurred to both after- 
wards, that there had been some indefinable change, observ- 
able in each to each, dating from that particular evening. 

Lorraine was more contentedly gay than she had been for 
some time — a quiet, natural light-heartedness, born of some 
attainment that was giving her joy. Hal was not clever 
enough to actually perceive this, but she did perceive 
that a certain restless, anxious indecision of manner and 
plans had passed away. For the time being Lorraine was 
happy in a sense she had not been over her success. That 


WIN-DING PATHS 


171 


Alymer Hermon had anything to do with it never entered 
HaPs head. She had treated the whole matter of Lorraine’s 
attraction to him with the lightness that seemed its only 
claim, and scarcely remembered it at all. 

And yet, all the time, it was the young giant who was 
bringing the soothing and restfulness into the actress’s 
storm-tossed life. He was beginning to be with her con- 
stantly — to come to her with all his doings, and his imagin- 
ings, and his hopes. And, as she had suspected, natural or 
unnatural, he was the companion of all others who gave 
her the most pleasure at the time. 

World- wearied and brain-wearied with her own un- 
satisfying successes, she found a new interest in entering 
into his projects, and scheming and dreaming for his future 
instead of her own. 

She was quite open to herself about the probability that 
she would have felt nothing of the kind had he been merely 
a giant, or had he been plain. It was the rare, and indeed 
remarkable combination of such physical attributes, with 
brains, and nobility and an utter absence of all assump- 
tion. 

She forgot about his youth and a certain natural crudity ; 
and what he lacked in experience and development she easily 
balanced with the extraordinary physical attraction that 
had never ceased to sway her. 

For the rest, the future might go. Her friendship would 
not hurt him, and his had become necessary to her. If they 
dreamed over a volcano, what of it ? Most dreams for such 
lives as hers usually were in close proximity to sudden de- 
struction. Waves from nowhere came up and overwhelmed 
them. Rocks from unseen heights fell on them and crushed 
them. If she was wise she would take what the present 
offered, and leave the future alone. 

For Hal, on the other hand, had developed something of 
the restlessness that had fallen from Lorraine. The new 
element dawning in her life was not a restful one ; neither 
12 


172 


WINDING PATHS 


did it lend itself to her usual spontaneous chaff and gay 
badinage. 

She told Lorraine about her afternoon drive, without 
giving half the particulars she would have done ordinarily ; 
and when Lorraine asked her about Sunday, she only said 
she was perhaps going for another run with Sir Edwin. 
Lorraine did not press the point, because she was having 
a day with Alymer, and was chiefly glad that Hal was 
happily provided with a companion to take Dick’s place. 

Then she went off to her theater, and Hal went home, 
wishing the next day were Sunday. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


Dudley hardly knew, himself, why he spoke diffidently 
about his plans for Sunday, and why he did not tell Hal 
outright that he was taking Doris Hayward to a picnic at 
Marlow, given by mutual friends of his and theirs — friends 
of the old vigorous days, when he and Basil Hayward had 
gone everywhere together, and Hal had still been a boister- 
ous schoolgirl. Perhaps he felt she might seem to have 
been rather unkindly left out. 

As a matter of fact, an invitation to include his sister 
had been given; but, for reasons he hardly stopped to 
face, he chose not to mention it. That was after he had 
learned from a visit to the little Holloway flat that nothing 
would persuade Ethel to leave her brother, who had been 
ailing more than usual of late, and Doris would accompany 
him alone. 

It had been with a curious mixture of feelings he had 
heard this. Things were very pitiful up at the little flat, 
and though his inmost sympathy had gone out generously 
enough to both girls, with a perversity born of narrow in- 
sight he had reserved the deepest of it for Doris. 

It seemed to him that she was so young to face such 
circumstances, and at such an early age to become saddened 
by the vicissitudes of life. In the depths of her wide blue 
eyes he saw unshed tears, and the little droop of her pretty 
mouth went straight to his heart. He wanted to gather 
her up in his arms, and kiss her and pet her till she was 
again all sunshine and smiles. 

He was not unaware that Ethel probably suffered more, 
173 


174 


WINDING PATHS 


but her way of showing it, or perhaps hiding it, appealed 
to him less. Instead of that mute distress of unshed 
tears, her quiet eyes wore an inscrutable veil. It was as 
if the anguish behind the veil were something too terrible 
and too sacred to be looked upon by a workaday world; 
but Dudley only knew that a wall of reserve was between 
him and her trouble. 

And her firm, strong mouth had no engaging droop at 
the corners. It was only if anything a little firmer, almost 
to sternness. 

Dudley believed that Basil was dying at last, after his 
weary martyrdom, and he believed that Ethel knew it; 
and in some vague way it hurt him that she gave no sign, 
and refused to be drawn into any speech concerning his 
increased weakness. 

Doris, on the other hand, spoke of it in a faltering, tear- 
ful voice, adding a little pitifully that it made it harder for 
her that Ethel was so distant and unsympathetic. 

In a sense the circumstances nonplused Dudley alto- 
gether. Some inner voice told him that such a depth of 
wondrous, unselfish devotion as Ethel showed to her invalid 
brother could not live in the same heart with hardness 
and want of sympathy; and yet there was the evidence 
of the swimming, melting eyes and drooping lips of the 
younger sister left out in the cold. 

Perhaps it was unfortunate that on that very evening 
of Dudley’s visit Ethel had come home rather earlier than 
her wont, to find Doris not yet returned from her daily 
outing, and, in consequence, the fire out and the sick man 
shivering with cold. He had looked so dreadfully ill that 
she had hastened first to get some brandy to revive him, 
only to find Doris had forgotten her promise to get the 
empty bottle replaced that morning. 

In desperation she had hastened to the other little 
fiat on the same floor, hoping its inmate might chance to 
have a little to lend. 


WINDING PATHS 


175 


The tenant was a lonely, harsh-featured spinster, who 
eked out a precarious living by teaching music. Ethel 
knew her slightly, as a gaunt woman who usually toiled 
up the stairs with a sort of scornful weariness of herself 
and everything else. 

She knew that because she was not fashionable, nor 
striking, nor well-dressed, she taught mostly in rather 
second-rate schools, and often had to take long journeys 
to her pupils, coming home tired and worn at night to 
an empty, comfortless little dwelling, to light her own fire 
and cook her own evening meal. 

She knew, too, that she was a gentlewoman, the daugh- 
ter of a poor clergyman, left penniless, to fight a hard world 
alone. Had her own home been happier, she would gladly 
have asked her to join them sometimes; but the weight 
of BasiFs illness, and her own usual condition of weariness, 
had left the invitation always unspoken. 

little brandy,” the music teacher echoed, with a 
quick note of concern; ^^yes, I believe I have a drop. Is 
it your brother ? Let me come and see if I can help ? ” 
Thank you,” Ethel had replied, trying not to allow 
her voice to show how much she would have preferred not 
to accept the preferred help. “ I think I can manage 
quite well.” 

But the gaunt spinster followed her across the little 
landing obstinately. She had seen Doris out half an hour 
before, and knew that she had not yet returned. 

“ Ah, you have no fire,” she said, in her somewhat 
gi-ating voice; ^^if you will let me I will light it,” and 
without more ado she had procured coals and wood for her- 
self, and was down on her knees before the empty grate. 

Ethel turned away with a sick, helpless feeling over 
Doris’s selfishness, and after administering a few drops of 
brandy, chafed the sick man’s hands and feet. When Basil 
felt better he glanced up curiously at the strange, dried-up- 
looking female who had just succeeded in persuading a 


176 WINDING PATHS 

cheerful blaze to brighten the room. She looked back into 
his face frankly. 

‘^You needn’t mind me/’ she informed him; I’m 
only the music teacher from the opposite flat.” 

You seem to be rather a kind sort of music teacher/’ 
he said, with his winsome smile, ‘^even if you do only 
come from the opposite flat.” 

The hard face relaxed a very little, and she shrugged 
her shoulders. 

Oh, well, it isn’t easy to be kind,” she answered, 
when you don’t stand for much else in the universe but 
a letter of the alphabet.” She turned back to her grate 
and commenced sweeping up the ashes. 

Basil roused himself a little further and looked 
interested. 

What letter do you stand for ? ” 

^^Just G.” She gave a low, harsh laugh. G is the 
letter that distinguishes my flat from the others, and it 
is all I stand for to God or man.” 

‘‘1 see.” His white, pain-wrung face looked extraor- 
dinarily kind. ^^Well, G, I’m very deeply grateful to 
you for coming across to light my fire, and I’m glad there 
happened to be a G in the universe this afternoon.” 

She turned her head away sharply, that neither of them 
might see the sudden, swift mist that dimmed her eyes, 
but she only answered: 

^^All the same, if there had been no G, and no you, 
the universe would have had an atom less pain in it, and 
no one have been any the worse.” 

‘^That’s where you’re wrong,” he told her, because 
Ethel couldn’t have done without me, and if you put your 
head in at my door occasionally, and just remark to F 
that G is across the passage, F will be glad the universe 
didn’t decide to leave G out of the alphabet.” 

The woman looked at him a moment with a curious 
expression in her eyes. Then she said: 


WINDING PATHS 


177 


“ Well, if you can take the insult of a maimed, or joy- 
less, or cursed life like that, it oughtn’t to be so very hard 
for me to be glad I happened to be able to come over and 
light your fire.” 

Nor so very hard to come again.” 

Ah ! ” She hesitated, then said to him, looking 
half-defiantly toward Ethel : Time after time, when I 

thought you were alone, I’ve wanted to just look in and 
see if you were all right. But I didn’t like to. People 
don’t take to me as a rule, and I’m . . . I’m . . . well, 
I’m not an ingratiating sort of person, and I guessed, prob- 
ably, you’d all rather do without any help I had to give.” 

It was kind of you to think of us at all,” Ethel said, 
not quite sure whether Basil would like her to come in or 
not. 

^^You guessed wrong,” was his answer. I think it 
would be very nice of you to look in occasionally. It cer- 
tainly seems rather absurd for you to be all alone there, 
and I all alone here, when we both want a little company. 
I’m sure the alphabet was not meant to be so unsociable.” 

It just depends.” 

She got up from her kneeling posture on the hearth, 
and stood, a grotesque apparition enough, looking at him 
with her greenish, nondescript eyes. Her hay-colored hair 
was tightly drawn back from a high, bulging forehead, 
her eyebrows were so light they scarcely showed at all, 
while her nose, which started in a nice straight line, had 
failed her at the last moment by suddenly taking an up- 
ward turn in an utterly incongruous fashion. She had 
high cheek bones, a parchment skin, and a mouth that was 
not much more than a slit; the grotesque effect of the 
whole being heightened by a long, thin neck, which she 
made no effort to cover with a neat high collar, but accentu- 
ated by a half-and-half untidily loose one. 

She wore a cheap, ready-made blouse with absurd 
little bows tacked on down the front, which Ethel longed 


178 


WINDING PATHS 


to abolish with one sweep, and her skirt, which had shrunk 
considerably in front, sagged in a dejected fashion behind. 

Yet to Basil’s kindly eyes, there was something behind 
it all that was attractive. For one thing, she was so emi- 
nently sincere. One felt she had no delusions whatever, 
concerning her appearance or her oddities; and though she 
looked out upon life with that scornful, resentful air, she 
had yet a keener sense of humor and a clearer brain than 
most women. Under different circumstances she might 
have been a success. 

As it was, she appeared to have got into a wrong groove 
altogether, and, unable to extricate herself, to have merely 
become an oddity. Basil, from his couch, looked up at 
her with friendly eyes, and she finished: 

One may want a little company, without wanting just 
any company.” 

^^You think you will find me even duller than noth- 
ing ? ” and his eyes twinkled. 

^^You know I didn’t mean that. You are clever, and 
well-read, and probably fastidious. I’m . . . well, you see 
what I am! and no good for anything except trying to 
restrain horrible children from thumping till they break 
the notes.” 

I thought you said you were a music teacher ? ” 

That’s what they call it,” with a dry grimace ; but 
when I dare to be honest, I have too much respect for 
music.” 

Well, you won’t have to weary your soul restraining 
me from thumping anything, so it will be a change to come 
and talk to me. We’ll turn the tables, and I’ll try and 
restrain you from thumping the universe too hard.” 

It would be much more to the point if we thumped 
together : I, because I’m not wanted, and it’s an insult to 
foist me on to mankind whether I like it or not ; and you, 
because . . . well, because you are a strong man cursed 
with helplessness,” 


WINDING PATHS 


179 


Very well, if you come in that particular mood, we’ll 
just play football with the bally old universe, so to speak. 
The main point to me is, that we take a rise out of the 
powers that be, by being a source of entertainment occa- 
sionally to each other. As our alphabetical significance in 
the general scheme is next door to each other, we may as 
well get what we can out of the circumstance.” 

She turned aside, looking half humorous and half 
satirical. 

It sounds well enough as you say it, but I expect the 
powers are sneering diabolically at us both. However, if 
you’ll let me try to be some sort of company. I’ll come 
across again soon ” 

A latchkey was heard in the door, and a moment later 
Doris entered. When she saw the two women she looked 
taken aback, and stammered something about not knowing 
the time. 

When I got in Basil’s fire was out, and he was per- 
ished with cold,” Ethel said coldly; and as I had to go to 
Miss . . . Miss ” 

Call it G,” put in the music teacher, with a comical 
twist of her mouth. 

for brandy, she came over and lit the fire for 

me.” 

I couldn’t help not knowing the time,” Doris mur- 
mured in a low, grumbling voice, and went away to take 
her hat off. 

The music teacher glanced from one to the other as if 
about to say something, but changed her mind and moved 
toward the door. On the threshold she looked back, and 
said in her short, dry way : 

If F wants anything of G, G will be ready to come 
instantly.” 

Thank you,” Basil and Ethel replied together, the 
former adding, and don’t forget to put your head in at 
the door occasionally, by way of a reminder.” 


180 


WINDING PATHS 


Ethel said no more to Doris, because she felt it useless, 
but her silence as they prepared the evening meal together 
signified her disapproval. She was deeply worried about 
Basil’s failing strength, and longed to speak of it to some 
one who would understand; but felt such selfish forget- 
fulness as Doris showed shut her out from any sympathetic 
discussion. 

Then Dudley came, and while Doris looked woe-begone 
and sad, Ethel’s face was a little stern with stress and 
anxiety. Basil tried valiantly to be cheerful enough for 
all three, but the effort cost him almost more strength 
than he could muster. 

After Dudley had gone, carrying with him the image 
of Doris’s plaintive prettiness and pathetic solitariness, 
and thinking gladly of the pleasure it would be to take her 
to Marlow on Sunday, Ethel slipped on her knees beside 
Basil’s couch, overcome for a moment by the burden of his 
suffering, and the difficulties of their lives. 

Often after Dudley had been, and some little act or 
glance or word had seemed to emphasize the barrier between 
them, her yearning over Basil had broken down her courage. 
When she had lost them both, what would become of her 
then? was the question that utterly undid her, finding 
no reply beyond a sense of empty darkness. 

She told herself she would go right away to another 
land — to some far colony — where she could begin life 
afresh, with her haunting memories kept in the background. 
She would not stay to see the awakening come to Dudley, if 
Doris were his wife, nor struggle through the long months 
at the General Post Office, when the end of each day’s 
labor brought no welcoming smile from Basil. 

She would not settle down alone in a dingy little flat 
as their opposite neighbor, to become a mere letter of the 
alphabet to God and man, surrounded by countless other 
ciphers of as little meaning and account. She would go 
away to some new, young land, with her vigor and her 


WINDING PATHS 181 

courage, and carve out a path with some semblance of 
reality and value. 

Only, could she ever get away from the awful empti- 
ness that would come to her with the loss of Basil, and the 
utter lack of any incentive to carry on the unequal 
struggle ? 

Basil laid his hand on her bowed head, and for a little 
while seemed unable to speak. Then he steadied his voice, 
and rallied her with his brave, whimsical thoughts. 

‘^Wouldn’t the dear old pater have enjoyed G? She’s 
just the kind of oddity he doted on. Fancy her teaching 
music of all things. It must be only scales and exercises. 
I think she’s splendid to see the incongruity herself, and 
refuse to call it music when she dare be honest. What a 
grotesque figurehead she looks, chum, doesn’t she ? I 
thoroughly enjoyed talking to her.” 

But Ethel could not answer to his cheeriness just yet. 

Basil, why are so many humans just mere letters of 
the alphabet in the general scheme ? ” 

She had slid into a sitting posture now, and leaned her 
head against hi^ arm. 

It doesn’t matter so much about the men ; they can 
go out into the world and make friends by the way, and 
become something more if they wish; but what of the 
single women, who have to work for their living, and have 
nothing much to look forward to but a sort of terror as to 
what will become of them when they can work no more? 
If you could see some of them at the office, with that 
drawn, dried-up, joyless look, scraping and saving and 
starving for dread of the years ahead : it’s so unfair, so 
grossly, hideously, cruelly unfair.” 

“ It perhaps won’t be when you see all round it, chum. 
It is so obvious we only see one side of things here. When 
we see the other side it will all look so different.” 

Perhaps, but in the meantime they are here, now, 
in our very midst, all these unwanted women. If you saw 


182 


WINDING PATHS 


as mucli of them as I do, I think you would feel even the 
letter had better not have been supplied. A blank would 
have meant so much less suffering. A penniless woman 
without attractiveness, and with neither husband, child, 
nor father wanting her, is such an anomaly. She just 
drags on, hating her loneliness, dreading and fearing the 
future or illness, merely existing because she is called upon 
to do so for no apparent reason.’’ 

But she can always make friends, chum. If she is 
kind and cheerful and hopeful she will soon win love of 
some sort.” 

Yes . . . yes . . . but, Basil, to be all that, when one 
is weighed down with the inequality of chance and a horror 
of the future calls for a heroine; and Life didn’t bother 
to make many of them heroines. She doesn’t seem to have 
paid much attention to them at all. Orphans and widows 
and sick people she remembers; but the lonely, aging, 
hardened, unwanted spinster ! It sometimes seems to me 
it is just sentimentality to be persuaded everything is all 
right. 

I don’t believe it is all right. There’s too much use- 
less, silent aching, and useless, passionate resentment over 
circumstances that it seems should either never have been, 
or should be remedied if any Guiding Hand has power. 
I have determination and I’m strong, Basil; the future 
doesn’t frighten me badly yet, but when you are gone, I 
feel as if the loneliness might half kill me, and as if then 
I ought to have the right to become a blank if I wish, 
since I was never consulted about becoming a letter in the 
great alphabet.” 

He did not seek to stay her, knowing with his deep 
insight that to get such thoughts spoken was better than to 
brood inwardly; and because of his unshakable faith in 
her courage, he was not alarmed by them. 

Yet he could not offer any comfort. Had not the 
enigma of useless pain racked and torn his soul piteously 


WINDING PATHS 


183 


through the long years of his illness, leaving him indeed 
with a wonderful courage, but not with a theory that would 
fit the needs of suffering mankind ? He could bear his own 
ills, because he had trained and taught himself to take them 
as a soldier takes the miseries of a hard campaign; but 
the general sum of suffering was another matter; and he 
shrank from saying either that suffering was sent by God 
to do good, or that it was necessary to the human race. 

All he knew was simply that ills bravely borne seemed 
aided by some mysterious power outside their bearers; 
whereas the craven and the grumbler seemed but to add to 
their own burden. For the rest, though he would not say 
it for the pain it gave her, the knowledge of his growing 
weakness was already a solace to him, and he watched with 
hidden eagerness for the day that should set him free. At 
least a corpse was no drain upon the slender purse of a 
beloved sister; and the gnawing ache of his helplessness 
and uselessness would be stilled forever. 

If only Dudley had cared for her ! From his vantage 
ground of the looker-on, with his unnaturally sharpened 
sensitiveness, he knew perfectly how matters stood and 
how hopeless the desire seemed. 

Dear old Dudley, his life-long friend, would probably 
marry Doris and learn his mistake too late; and Ethel, 
with her fine nature, would go to some one else. 

Well, one could not change either one’s own little circle 
of fate, or the universe, just to suit oneself ; one could only 
hope for the best, while there was still room for hope, and 
cultivate that soldier spirit, undaunted even in a losing 
fight. 

In the meantime there was the lonely, unwanted spin- 
ster opposite, with her immediate claim of nearness and 
loneness; and, as if to direct her thoughts into another 
channel, he said: 

You know, chum, I believe G was quite serious about 
wanting to come in here sometimes. Why not find out 


184 


WINDING PATHS 


which afternoons she comes home early, and let her come 
and get tea and have it with me here. Then Doris need not 
worry about getting back in time.^^ 

But if you are feeling weak it will tire you so, Basil, 
to have a stranger. You will feel obliged to talk to her.” 

No, I donT think I shall; and it would be nice to feel 
she was rather glad not to be a blank after all. Let her come 
one afternoon and try. Perhaps one way of grappling with 
the problem of human suffering — the best way — is to try 
and alleviate the atom of pain that is nearest each one of 
us.” 

She assented to please him, and then kissed his forehead 
with a lingering, adoring tenderness, marveling that such 
a sufferer could so think for others. Then she went quietly 
to bed, feeling, as the gaunt spinster had tried to put it, If 
you can bear your ills so, surely I might manage to bear 
mine more courageously.” 


CHAPTER XIX 


The next evening Ethel crossed the little landing to the 
lonely flat, and gave the invitation from F to GT. 

A good deal to her amusement, she found the gaunt 
spinster knitting babies’ socks, with a basket containing 
several completed pairs beside her. She picked a pair up, 
and said with a kind little smile : 

I hardly expected to find you doing this.” 

Of course not,” in a short way, that sounded uncivil 
without being so. It’s an occupation about as much suited 
to me as teaching music.” 

I wonder why you do it? ” 

^‘1 do it for bread, naturally. They bring in a few 
shillings. It is just a fluke that I can make them at all. I 
know as much about a needle ordinarily as a flying ma- 
chine ; but I learned to knit once under protest. 

I sprained my ankle and was laid up for some weeks, 
and I told the doctor I should go stark, staring mad if he 
kept me shut-up in a house doing nothing. He said knitting 
was a very good preventive to madness, and he’d send his 
wife along. She was a great missionary worker, and she 
pounced on me like a hawk, and started me off knitting 
socks for little gutta-percha babies somewhere in the Antip- 
odes, almost before I knew where I was. 

Such insanity ! ... as if white babies wanted to be 
bothered with socks, much less black ones ! I told the doctor 
it was adding insult to injury to allow it to appear I hadn’t 
more common sense than to occupy my time with garments 
for the heathen. As if there weren’t too many garments in 

185 


186 


WINDING PATHS 


the world already, half the community overdressed, and 
ready to sell its soul for more. 

Leave them clean and healthy and naked, thaPs my 
advice, doctor,’ I told him ; ^ and if you weren’t afraid of 
your wife you’d agree.’ ” 

Ethel leaned against the table, enjoying the rugged face 
and comically twisted mouth. 

But I thought you were a clergyman’s daughter ? ” she 

said. 

So I am ; but I don’t see why I shouldn’t be credited 
with a little common sense even then. I know they haven’t 
much as a rule ; what with their sewing classes, and praying 
classes, and mothers’ meetings smothering up their minds 
till they can’t see beyond their noses. I never had much to 
do with that part of it. They didn’t like me well enough in 
the village to want to pray with me nor sew with me ; which 
was just as well, for if I’d prayed, I should have implored 
the Almighty to open their minds a little, and widen their 
views, and give them each a good thick slab of devilry to 
counteract their general soppiness and short-sighted stu- 
pidity. 

Ugh ! ... to hear some of those soppy folks praying 
to be delivered from the Evil One, and to have strength 
given them to cast the devil from their hearts ! Just as if 
the devil had time to bother with that sanctimonious, 
chicken-hearted crew. He wasn’t very likely to do them 
the compliment of acknowledging their existence.” 

Did no one do any parish work then ? ” 

Oh, yes, the doctor’s wife did most of it. And when 
a new doctor came they daren’t for the life of them have a 
word to say to him, for fear of the next prayer meeting, 
when she would preside. You see, she’d pray for the lost 
sheep in the fold for about half an hour, and how he went 
to the wolf for healing, which was the new doctor — instead 
of the savior, which was her husband, the old one, and drew 
lurid pictures of the fiery poisons and deadly draughts the 


WINDING PATHS 187 

wolf gave the poor sheep to kill him instead of cure 
him.” 

And what became of the new doctor ? ” 

Oh, of course he had to go — which was a pity, as he 
was the first person with a sense of humor who ever entered 
that village as a resident. One could positively talk sense 
to him, without being regarded as a lunatic. As a rule, you 
had to feign imbecility there if you didn’t want to be con- 
sidered mad. 

“ I had just made up my mind to learn to knit men’s 
ties, instead of babies’ socks, when he departed ” — and she 
looked at Ethel with a grimness, and at the same time a 
lurking humor, that made it quite impossible for Ethel to 
keep her face. 

‘^And did you change your mind then?” seeing the 
gaunt spinster was not in the least annoyed at her for laugh- 
ing. 

Yes ; I stuck to the babies’ socks. I thought on the 
whole it was less incongruous for a woman with a face like 
mine to work for a baby than a man. 

And that’s the nearest I ever got to a love affair. Just 
to wonder if I’d knit a man a tie, and change my mind, and 
knit socks for a little black heathen whelp instead.” 

Oh, dear ! ” said Ethel, with a little smothered gasp, 
^^you don’t mind if I laugh, do you? You really are very 
amusing.” 

Amusing ! . . .” with a little humorous snort. Well, 
I don’t mind amusing you; but I do think it’s about the 
most monstrous thing in the way of a practical joke I 
know, for Nature to create a creature like me, with a natural 
inclination to want a mate. Just as if any man could bear 
to get up every morning of his life and see me there.” 

“ Nonsense,” Ethel exclaimed. Basil thinks you are 
very attractive.” 

Does he ? ” dryly. Then, with a sudden, swift humor,: 

Perhaps it’s a pity I didn’t learn to knit ties after all ! ” 
13 


188 


WINDING PATHS 


Tell him about why you didn’t instead — and about the 
village and the doctor’s wife. He’ll be so interested. You 
will be a positive godsend to him. May I tell him to expect 
you to tea to-morrow ? ” 

Yes. Tell him, to add to the humor of the situation, 
I’ll bring across a baby’s sock to knit. We’re both so likely 
to have a mutual interest in babies.” 

Ethel kept Basil entertained most of the evening with 
the account of her interview, rather to the annoyance of 
Doris, who, for some vague reason, was not at all pleased 
about the new acquaintance. 

Perhaps it was because, on one or two occasions when 
she had remained out later than she should, she had met 
the music teacher and encountered a fierce and disapprov- 
ing glare. Doris was quite willing to be relieved of her 
charge occasionally, but she did not at all appreciate the idea 
of a strong-minded individual, who would certainly not 
hesitate not only to condemn her selfishness, but to look her 
scorn of it. 

On the evening of Dudley’s visit, when she first found 
the gaunt spinster at the fiat, she had gone to bed feeling 
out of sorts with herself and all the world. 

She hated having been caught in her selfish forgetful- 
ness ; she hated the idea of the opposite tenant coming in to 
help Ethel; she hated being Doris Hayward and living in 
a stuffy little Holloway fiat. It caused her to turn her 
thoughts more seriously to a way of escape, and, as a 
natural sequence, to how much Dudley’s attentions might 
mean. 

And further, if they were meant in earnest, how she 
would feel about marrying him. She made no pretense to 
herself of loving him ; personally, she thought love mostly 
sentimental nonsense ; but she liked being with him, and she 
liked going about with him. 

On the other hand, he was not rich, and she hated 
poverty. If she waited a little longer, a richer man might 


WINDING PATHS 


189 


turn up ? ... or, again, he might not, and Dudley might 
change his mind. Certainly it was very awkward to know 
which was the wisest course, but in the meantime it would 
be just as well to keep Dudley attracted. 

To this end she gave her hair an extra curl on Saturday 
evening, and arose betimes on Sunday morning for further 
preparations. Ethel took a bow off her hat, ironed, and 
remade it, and finally put the finishing touches to her 
appearance. 

You look very nice,’^ she said. I hope you’ll have 
a splendid day. Kun and show yourself to Basil.” 

Basil told her she would certainly be the belle of the 
luncheon party, and finally she departed feeling very pleased 
with herself. 

Dudley was waiting for her at Paddington, and his eyes 
showed plainly that he echoed Basil’s opinion, though he 
did not actually express it in words. 

How did you leave Basil ? ” he asked. I wish I felt 
happier about him.” 

He is much brighter altogether. I really think Ethel 
might have come, as the tenant of the opposite fiat would 
have been only too pleased to go and sit with him. She 
never seems to have any pleasure, does she ? But it is really 
her own fault. I would have stayed at home to-day if she 
would have let me.” 

^^I think I’m rather glad she wouldn’t; though I am 
sorry she could not have had the treat as well. We are going 
to have a lovely day, in spite' of its being so late in the 
year.” 

As it was only a small birthday luncheon, and the others 
of the party had either gone overnight or lived near, they 
were easily able to get a compartment to themselves, and 
Dudley was conscious of a pleasurable quickening of his 
pulses at the prospect of the long tete-a-tete. 

And indeed it was not surprising, for Doris looked 
adorably pretty and winsome, and many a wiser man might 


190 


WINDING PATHS 


have shared his pleased anticipation. Moreover, Doris was 
not in the least stupid or vapid, however selfish and shallow 
her nature; and if she chose she could be a very pleasant 
companion. 

And to-day she did so choose, hovering still in indecision 
over the subject that had filled her thoughts often of late. 

Finally, it chanced that during much of the day they 
were thrown together, and all the time she thought how 
nice it was to be of so much consequence to anyone ; while 
he enjoyed again the sense of her clinging, engaging 
dependence. 

And when they were once more alone in a compart- 
ment, steaming back to town, it was not in the least sur- 
prising that, almost before he knew it, Dudley was pouring 
into her ears a tale of love. 

True, it was a very calm and collected tale, but it was 
none the less genuine for that; and from the bottom of his 
heart he believed that she, above all women, was the one 
he desired as his wife. Transports of any description 
were foreign to his nature. He imagined they always 
would be. 

Joyous excitement and enthusiasm he left to Hal, 
except such enthusiasm as he kept for old ruins and ancient 
architecture. Still, it warmed all his blood and quickened 
all his pulses to have his way at last, and hold Doris in his 
arms, and try to kiss away the unshed tears and the little 
droop from her lips. 

He took her home from the station, but did not go in 
because of the lateness of the hour, and the probability 
that Basil was just getting off to sleep; only kissing her 
again with a certain old-fashioned, deferential air and 
promising to come in the course of a day or two to see 
Ethel and Basil. 

Doris let herself in with somewhat mixed feelings. 

She had had a delightful day and thoroughly enjoyed 
it, but, now that the die was cast, and the difficult point 


WINDING PATHS 191 

settled, she found herself beginning to be more critical of 
Dudley. 

She wished he were not quite so old-fashioned, nor so 
good. She was a little afraid she would find his sterling 
qualities distinctly boring, and his high standard a difficult 
and tiresome one to bother with. 

And then, of course, there was Hal. Hal never had 
liked her and probably never would. Not that it mattered 
very much. In fact, it was rather pleasant than other- 
wise to think of Hal’s discomfiture and dismay. Doris 
wondered if she would expect to live with them, and made 
up her mind then and there, very decisively, that she would 
never agree to anything of the kind. 

She had suffered quite enough from Ethel’s superiority, 
without encountering a second edition in Hal. As she 
thought of it, and of how she would checkmate Hal’s pos- 
sible plans to make her home with them, she smiled to 
herself a little cruelly in the darkness. 


CHAPTER XX 


It was Hal also who filled Dudley’s thoughts as he made 
his way homeward. In her attitude to his engagement he 
was afraid she was going to personate what is known as a 
tough nut to crack.” He wondered if she would be 
waiting up for him, and what in the world she would say 
when he told her. 

As it happened, she was waiting, sitting over the re- 
mains of a little fire she had lighted for company. The 
reason she felt the need of company, and the reason she 
was waiting, was the fact of a perturbed frame of mind 
she was endeavoring to soothe, until he came in to give 
the final touch. 

She was perturbed because of the change in Sir Edwin 
Crathie, and the closing scene of a somewhat eventful day. 
Until tea time he had been as gay and light-hearted and 
inconsequent as ever. 

Their lunch in the New Forest had been an immense 
success, and both had enjoyed it thoroughly. On their 
way home they further enjoyed a big tea at an hotel. 

Moreover, the drive had been delightful. The glory of 
the autumn tints; the delicious stillness of the autumn 
weather, and the sunny coolness of the atmosphere had all 
contributed to make the day perfect. After her long hours 
of ofl&ce work and monotony, Hal was only the better tuned 
to enjoy it, and as she leaned back in blissful ease in the 
luxurious motor, she thought what a goose she would have 
been to let prudish thoughts influence her to forego it. 

Then, once more, after tea, he had deliberately moved 
192 


WINDING PATHS 


193 


his chair nearer to hers, and struck a personal note that 
she found it difficult to combat. 

Do you know,” he told her blandly, you’re the 
dearest little woman I’ve met for a long time? I don’t 
know when I’ve enjoyed a whole day with anyone so much 
as this.” 

It’s just the novelty,” she said, adopting a note of 
unconcern to head him off; ^^most of your friends flatter 
and try to please you. It amuses me more to contradict 
you; that’s all.” 

Oh, that’s all, is it ! Well, I dare say if I found a 
special joy in being contradicted, I could easily humor 
the fancy without going for a whole day into the country.” 

Very likely — only, since you wanted your day in the 
country, you kill two birds with one stone, don’t you see ? ” 

^^And supposing I badly wanted something else from 
you besides contradiction! ... a little affection, for in- 
stance 1 ” 

Oh, I’m giving you a lot of that thrown in,” gayly, 
but she pushed her chair a little farther away ; if I didn’t 
rather like you I shouldn’t bother to contradict you.” 

^^Eather like me! That’s very cold — I, a great deal 
more than rather like you.” 

That, of course, is different,” with a jaunty air that 
made them both laugh. 

‘‘ Still, I don’t think we can stop at ^ rather liking,’ 
now — do you ? ” 

I don’t see why we shouldn’t ; we are getting on very 
nicely.” 

He got up suddenly, and walked away to the window. 
In his heart of hearts he was a little nonplused. Of course 
they couldn’t stop where they were, he argued; but how, 
with a girl of Hal’s practical level headedness get any 
farther ? 

Then he remembered he was a firm believer in swift 
and sudden measures, and usually found they fitted all con- 


194 


WINDING PATHS 


tingcncies. So he swung round, crossed the room, put his 
hands on her shoulders, and boldly kissed her. 

There,” he said — ^Hhat is how I ^rather like ’you.” 

Hal was quite taken aback — almost too taken aback to 
speak; but a red spot burned in each cheek, and a sudden 
flash seemed to gleam angrily in her eyes. Her quick brain, 
however, took in the position instantly. If she grew indig- 
nant and melodramatic, he would merely laugh at her. 

Of course he knew she must be perfectly aware that 
men often kissed a girl who stood to them in her position, 
without thinking much of it. To make a fuss would be 
rather absurd. On the other hand, of course, he had to be 
disillusioned concerning what he apparently supposed 
would be her feelings on the subject. 

I call that bad taste,” she said coolly. You might 
have given me a sporting chance to let you know before- 
hand I should object.” He looked about to repeat the 
action, but she edged away from him. Of course I know 
lots of girls don’t mind, but that’s nothing to do with 
you and me. I do.” 

^^Why do you mind?” He felt rather small before 
the directness of her eyes, and tried to bluster himself on 
to his former level. It’s very silly of you, especially now- 
adays. There’s no harm in a kiss, is there?” 

None that I know of, but I think we were getting on 
very nicely without it. We won’t risk spoiling things. 
Come along, I’m longing to be off ” ; and she moved toward 
the door. 

Are you angry with me ? ” he asked. 

""Yes; very; but if you’ll promise not to do it again 
I’ll try to forget. If you transgress further, we shall just 
have to leave off being friends — that’s all.” 

He took his seat in the motor beside her in silence, and 
Peter whizzed them away at a good speed. 

Hal, enjoying the motion, kept her face averted, and 
drank in the lovely, fresh country air. 


WINDING PATHS 


195 


Presently a hand stole firmly over hers. 

You’re not to be angry with me any more^ little 
woman. I’m afraid I was rather a cad, but you’ve got 
such a fascinating mouth. I’m sorry.” 

She looked frankly into his eyes. 

Well, don’t do it again, then.” 

He tried to look no less frankly back, but it was as if 
some forbidden thought flashed across his mind. 

I’ll try not,” he said, a trifle lamely, and looked 

away. 

He still kept possession of her hand, however, until she 
resolutely drew it from him. 

Will Brother Dudley be in ? ” he asked, when they 
drew up in Bloomsbury. 

No; he won’t get back much before nine.” 

He took her latchkey from her, and opened the door, 
entering himself, instead of taking her proffered hand. 

Which way ? ” he asked, and she opened the door into 
their sitting room. 

I’ll show you Brother Dudley’s photograph now 
you’re here,” she said in a frank voice — and the very 
latest of Lorraine Vivian. I wish I had one of Apollo; but 
I’ve never asked for one, because I always make a point of 
pretending not to admire him.” 

It’s only pretense, then ? ” he asked, glancing at 
the others as if his thoughts were elsewhere. 

It can only be. One is bound to admire him at heart. 
Nature seldom made a fairer gentleman, and it would be 
mere perversity to deny it, except, as I do, for his good.” 

Then suddenly she saw he was scarcely listening to her, 
and looking at the photographs without seeing them, and 
instinctively she moved away, feeling a little at a loss. 
The next moment he had caught her shoulders, and kissed 
her again. 

I said I’d try, and so I have, but it’s no use. Little 
woman, don’t be prudish ; kiss me back again.” 


196 


WINDING PATHS 


But she pushed him away, and in the firelight he saw 
she was very white and determined. 

I asked you not to. It is much worse taste still now.’’ 

" No, it isn’t — don’t be silly. Why shouldn’t I kiss you ? 
I . . . I . . . have got awfully fond of you, and I know 
you like me somewhere down in your heart.” 

I shall cease to do so from this moment.” 

I dare you to. Hal, if you like me, why not take the 
sweets that offer? I’ll be bound you’ve never been kissed 
in your life as I will kiss you. Don’t be prudish. Let me 
teach you.” 

She seemed to hesitate a second, in indecision as to what 
was her best course to withstand him, and, seizing the oppor- 
tunity, he suddenly caught her in his arms and kissed her on 
the lips with swift, eager kisses. Then, not giving her time 
to speak her resentment, he snatched up his hat and moved 
to the door. 

Don’t be angry,” he said. I did try, honor bright, 
but it’s no use ; good-by. I must see you again soon ” ; and 
he went out, closing the door behind him. 

For some minutes Hal stood quite still, feeling a little 
dazed. She saw him cross the pavement, give some direc- 
tions to Peter, and then drive away without a backward 
glance. She stood still a little longer, then slowly took off 
her hat, threw it on the sofa, ran her fingers through her 
hair and sat down. 

After a little, the emptiness of the room seemed to 
oppress her, for though it was not cold, she jumped up and 
put a match to the fire. Then the landlady came in with her 
supper. 

’Ad a nice day, miss ? ” she asked pleasantly. 

^^Very nice. How’s Johnnie? Did you get to see 
him ? ” alluding to a small son boarded out at Highgate for 
his health. 

Yes ; I went up to tea with ’im, ’E looks years better 
already.” 


WINDING PATHS 


197 


I’m very glad.” 

Hal sat down to her supper with a preoccupied air, and 
instead of having a little chat, she relapsed into silence, and 
the landlady departed. She felt vaguely that something 
had upset entirely the even tenor of her mind, and she 
wanted to think. Any other Sunday evening she would have 
told the landlady something about her motor ride, for she 
and Dudley had now been in the same rooms for seven years, 
and it is quite a fallacy to condemn all London landladies 
as grasping, bad-tempered tyrants. 

Hal was quite fond of Mrs. Carr, and had found her un- 
wearyingly thoughtful and attentive. But to-night she 
wanted to think, and was glad to be alone again, almost im- 
mediately returning to her armchair over the fire. 

She was conscious, in a vague, uncertain way, that 
though Sir Edwin had kissed her because he cared for her, 
he could not have acted so had he cared in an upright, 
honest-hearted manner. She attracted him, and he wanted 
all the pleasure he could get out of the attraction, but 
there, no doubt, it ended. 

For the rest, he was Sir Edwin Crathie, Cabinet Min- 
ister, and member of a proud, patrician family. She was 
Hal Pritchard, secretary, typist, and occasional journalist 
at the office of a leading London paper. 

She grew restless, and commenced roaming round the 
room. Her knowledge of life, as it is lived near its teeming, 
throbbing, working center, warned her that the new turn of 
their friendship held danger. If she was wise, she would 
shun the danger, and go back to her old life before he had 
come into it. She would firmly and resolutely refuse to see 
him again. 

To do so without regret was impossible. Now that the 
friendship seemed about to cease, she realized it had meant 
more than she knew. She held her face in her hands, and 
her cheeks tingled at the memory of the last eager kiss. 

She was woman enough to know it was good to be kissed 


198 


WINDING PATHS 


like that by a man who, even if his morals and principles 
left much to be desired, was still very much a man, and 
had won a distinction that made most women proud of far 
less attention than he had shown her. 

Still 

In a different sense she was struggling in a net of cir- 
cumstances something like Lorraine^s. Lorraine wanted to 
do the right thing, or, at any rate, the sporting thing. 

So did Hal. 

In a world full of temptations, and backsliding, and 
much suffering thereby, the sporting thing for the strong 
woman is to stand to her guns. If Hal dallied with Sir 
Edwin now, she felt she would be deserting her post. At 
the judgment-bar of her ovm heart, which, after all, matters 
far more than the judgment-bar of public opinion, she would 
be allowing herself to compromise for the sake of the fleet- 
ing, dangerous pleasure. 

She stopped short by the window, and stared out into the 
gloomy, lamplit street. And it crossed her mind to remem- 
ber the bitter price so many women had paid for that dalli- 
ance and compromise, so many now probably gazing out 
with dull eyes into gloomy streets, hopeless, reckless, and 
joyless. 

Yes; dalliance and compromise were mistakes. The 
real pluck was the sporting spirit that stood to its guns, 
even if it cost a big and wearisome effort. She would not 
dally. She would answer to her own Best, and try to go 
on her steadfast way. 

After all, she had Dudley and Lorraine. It was good to 
have a brother all to oneself, who was incontestably a dear, 
in spite of a little priggishness and narrowness. He would be 
home soon, and then they would have a last chat over the 
fire together ; and that would help to renew her in her deter- 
mination to cut the dangerous friendship adrift. 

She leaned back in the chair a little wearily, and waited 
for the welcome sound of his key in the latch. She wished 


WINDING PATHS 


199 


he would come quickly, because she did not quite like the 
way her mind kept reverting to those eager kisses. The 
memory had the danger of making most other thoughts 
seem thin and dull ; and she wondered how she was going 
to replace a friendship that had been so full of interest and 
enjoyment. 

If she had dared, she would like to have persuaded 
herself that he cared for her in the real way ; and her cheeks 
glowed, and her heart thumped a little at the thought of all 
the real way meant. But her practical side told her only 
too decidedly that this was not the case. 

Perhaps he was not the sort of man who could care in 
the real way at all. He was too selfish, and grasping, and 
ambitious by nature. That he was interesting and a de- 
lightful companion as well did not help matters. Men were 
very often all these things together, but the selfish, am- 
bitious, unscrupulous side usually outweighed all the rest in 
big questions that affected their whole lives. 

Then she remembered that many of the girls she knew — 
quite nice, jolly girls — would have taken the fun that 
offered, and not bothered about anything beyond the present. 
Still, that did not affect her own particular case. 

One had to try and live up to one’s own ideals, not other 
people’s, and in her inmost heart she knew that she thought 
but poorly of the girls who run foolish risks for the sake 
of a little extra pleasure and gratification, just as she 
thought poorly of the man who amused himself, trifling with 
a girl’s affections, to pass a little time. 

Then came the welcome sound of Dudley’s key, and she 
sat up and turned an eager face to the door to greet him. 

He came in quietly, and returned the greeting with his 
usual calm, undemonstrative appreciation ; only, he did not 
look at her, nor ask her any questions about her day. 

The supper was still waiting for him, and he took a few 
mouthfuls, in a preoccupied manner, with his face turned 
away. Hal asked him about the day’s outing, wondering 


200 


WINDING PATHS 


not a little at his manner. He seemed anxious, and some- 
what ill at ease, and she observed that he did not eat any- 
thing to speak of. 

At last he got up and came to her side near the fire. 

Aren’t you going to sit down ? ” she asked. I thought 
a little fire looked so cozy.” 

He did not seem to hear her, for instead of replying he 
coughed nervously, cleared his throat, and said : 

I’ve something to tell you, Hal — a piece of news.” 

She waited, watching him with a puzzled, curious air. 

Then, without any further preamble, he finished 
abruptly : 

I’m — I’m — engaged to be married.” 

Hal gave a gasp, and became suddenly taut with amaze- 
ment and incredulity. You’re — engaged — to — be — 
married ! ” 

Yes ; you’re not very surprised, are you ? ” 

A sudden, awful fear seemed to envelop and clutch at 
her. 

Who to ? ” she asked, a little hoarsely. 

“To Doris Hayward.” 

For some reason he seemed unable to look at her. 
Vaguely he knew he had dealt her a blow, and that it was of 
a nature he could not soften. 

Hal stared hard at the fire, then suddenly started to her 
feet. 

“ You can’t mean it,” she exclaimed, forgetting to be cir- 
cumspect. “ You couldn’t possibly think seriously of marry- 
ing Doris Hayward ? ” 

Instantly he stiffened. 

“ I don’t know why you speak of it in that way. Cer- 
tainly I am serious. It is hardly a question I should joke 
about.” 

There was a tense silence, then Hal turned to the sofa 
and picked up her hat as if she were a little dazed. She 
seemed suddenly to have nothing to say, and she knew 


WINDING PATHS 


201 


herself to be no good at prevarication. To congratulate 
him seemed an impossibility just yet. 

" Of course I know you have never cared for Doris/’ he 
said ; but probably you did not know her well enough. I 
hope you will soon see you have misjudged her.” 

I hope so/’ she said lamely. “ Good night — I — I — 
hadn’t thought about your getting married. I must get 
used to the idea. I — ” She paused in sudden, swift distress. 

Good night ; of course I hope you’ll be happy, and all 
that,” and she went hurriedly out, and up to her own room. 


CHAPTER XXI 


"When Hal reached her room she sat down on the bed 
in the dark, and stared at the dim square of the window. 
She was feeling stunned, and as if her brain would not work 
properly. It grasped the significance of old, familiar ob- 
jects as usual, but seemed quite unable to grip and under- 
stand the something strange and new which had suddenly 
come into being. She remembered she had waited for 
Dudley to come with soothing for a perturbed frame of 
mind, and instead, he had brought her — this. 

What could it mean? Surely, surely, not that Doris 
Hayward was to rob her of her brother. 

A wave of swift and sudden loneliness seemed to en- 
velop her. The blackness of the night closed in upon her, 
and desolation swept across her soul. 

If only it had been Ethel,’^ was the vague, uncertain 
thought : anyone in the world almost but Doris.’^ 

And again: 

^^Wliy had Dudley been so incredibly blind to Doris’s 
real nature? Why had he of all men been caught by a 
pretty face? Was it possible he thought his life would 
need no other help and comfort but that of a charming 
exterior in his wife ? ” 

How childlike he seemed again to his young sister’s 
practical, worldly knowledge. Of course he knew almost 
nothing of women, buried in his musty old architectural 
lore, and giving most of his brain to the contemplation of 
ancient ruins and edifices. 

He had looked up from his books, and Doris had smiled 
202 


WINDING PATHS 


20S 


at him, that diabolically winsome, innocent smile of hers; 
and something in his heart, not quite smothered and like- 
wise not healthily developed, had warmed into sudden, 
surprised pleasure, and straightway he thought himself 
in love. Hal was sure of one thing, that if Doris had not 
decided it would suit her plans to be Dudley’s wife, the 
idea would not have occurred to him. 

After all, what did he want with a wife for years to 
come, going along so contentedly and placidly with his 
books and his thirst for knowledge, and the peacefulness 
of their sojourn with Mrs. Carr? No servant troubles, no 
housekeeping worries, no taxes, no gas and electric-light 
bills; everything done for them, and for company each 
other. 

Oh, of course, it was all Doris’s doing. She wanted to 
get away from the dingy flat and the poverty, and she had 
hit upon Dudley as a way out. 

Hal got up suddenly with a bursting feeling. Of course 
she did not even love him, would not even try to change 
her nature to become more in touch with his, would not 
trouble in the least what obstacles stood between any real 
and deep understanding. Perhaps she was not even capable 
of love, but in any case her affections could not have been 
given to anyone as quiet, and studious, and old-fashioned 
as Dudley. 

She went to the window and threw it open that she 
might lean out and breathe the open air. Her head burned 
and ached, and her eyes smarted with a smoldering fire 
in her brain. She felt more and more how entirely it must 
have been Doris’s doing. Doris had smiled at him, and 
confided in him, and managed first to convey a pathetic 
picture of her own loneliness, and then to suggest how 
happy her life might be with him. 

And of course Dudley was all chivalry at heart, and 
trusting, and tender-hearted; that was one reason why 
he had always deplored her, Hal’s, boyish independence 
14 


204 


WINDING PATHS 


and determination to fend for herself. He did not under- 
stand the vigorous, enterprising, working woman. 

Immersed in his books and his studies, he had allowed 
himself to be influenced' largely by caricatures, and by the 
noisy stir of the platform woman. But he understood the 
Doris type, or thought he did, and placed their engaging 
dependence before such spirited resolution as her own and 
Ethel’s. 

And how to help him ? How, now, to thwart the carry- 
ing out of Doris’s cleverly carried scheme. 

Her first thought was Ethel and Basil. She would go 
to them, and appeal to them to help her. 

And then she remembered that blood is thicker than 
water.” How could they thwart their own sister; and in 
any case what would Dudley ever see in it but a persecu- 
tion that would intensify his affection? One hint that 
Doris was victimized, and she knew Dudley well enough 
to realize he would only marry her the more quickly, 
whether he had learned the truth or not. 

Opposition of any sort would probably do far more 
harm than good at present. There was nothing for it but 
to meet the blow with the best face possible, and hope time 
might yet bring release. 

Then her thoughts went back to Sir Edwin, and quite 
suddenly and unaccountably she longed to tell him about 
it. He would be interested for her sake, and he would 
cheer her up, and make her hopeful in spite of herself. 

And yet 

No; to see him again, feeling as she felt now, would 
only mean to see him in a mood of weakness, that might 
make her less able to withstand him. 

She must rely only on Lorraine and Dick, and try to 
stand by her previous determination. She would see Lor- 
raine directly she left the office the next day, and in the 
meantime she would try and hide from Dudley the extent 
of her dismay. 


WINDING PATHS 


205 


But in spite of her resolve, when she rested her head 
on the pillow, the hot tears squeezed through her closed 
eyelids, and in dumb misery she told herself Dudley was 
lost to her forever. 

She awoke the next morning with a dull, aching sense 
of misery that had robbed the sunshine of its warmth, and 
the day of its brightness; but as she dressed she strength- 
ened herself in a resolve to try and hide her chagrin, and 
make some amends to Dudley for her reception of the news. 

I suppose you felt pretty disgusted with me last 
night,” she said at the breakfast table. I’m sorry, but 
you took me so violently by surprise.” 

He had taken his seat, looking grave and displeased, 
but his face relaxed as he replied : 

I’m afraid I was rather sudden. It seemed the easi- 
est ” — he hesitated, then added — I hope you’ll try to get 
on with Doris.” 

Of course.” Hal turned away on some slight pretext. 

I’d hate giving you up to anyone — you know I would — 
we’ve — ^we’ve — been very happy together here, and — ” but 
her voice broke suddenly. 

Dudley looked unhappy, but he steadied his voice and 
said cheerfully: 

Well, it needn’t be very different. If you and Doris 
will get fond of each other, it will be the same, only bet- 
ter. Of course you will live with us.” 

Oh, no ” ; and she tried to smile lightly — I couldn’t 
— possibly live without Mrs. Carr now. I should never be 
properly dressed, for one thing, and I should always be 
forgetting important engagements.” She changed the sub- 
ject quickly, seeing he was about to remonstrate. Have 
you seen Ethel and Basil since — since ” 

^^No; I’m going to see Basil this afternoon, after tak- 
ing Doris to Wimbledon to see Langfier fly, and I shall 
stay to dinner. Will you come up this evening ? ” 

No; I’m going out. Perhaps to-morrow — ” She hesi- 


206 


WINDING PATHS 


tated, as if swallowing a lump in her throat. ^^You 
might give my love to Doris, and say I’ll come soon.” She 
saw Dudley glance at her inquiringly, and recklessly 
dashed into another subject, talking at random until she 
left. 

In the afternoon she hurried straight off to Lorraine’s 
flat, arriving a few minutes after Lorraine had come in 
from a walk in the park. She was standing by the win- 
dow, drawing off some long gloves, and even Hal was struck 
by a sort of newness about her — a bloom and a quiet 
radiance that was like a renewal of youth. 

She was beautifully dressed as ever, but with a far 
simpler note than usual — something which suggested she 
wished to look charming, without attracting attention; 
something which suppressed the actress in favor of the 
woman. 

It was as if, surrounded with success and attention night 
after night, and for several years, she had wearied of the 
role, and put it aside voluntarily whenever opportunity 
offered. She had been wont to be very fashionable and 
striking in her dress and general appearance, but now 
Hal noticed vaguely a simpler note all through. 

Her face and expression seemed to have changed also. 
A certain hardness and callousness had gone. Her smile 
was more genuine, and her eyes kinder. In some mysterious 
way, it was as though Lorraine had won from the past some 
gleaming of the woman she might have been under happier 
circumstances, and without certain harsh experiences. 

And it was all owing to her feeling for Alymer Hermon 
and his youthful pride in her. 

They met continually now. Her flat was open to him 
whenever he liked. He came to her when he had any- 
thing interesting to relate — ^when he was depressed and 
when he was hopeful. With the inconsequent acceptance 
of youth, he took from her what an older man would have 
regarded a little shyly, and perhaps feared to take. 


WINDING PATHS 


207 


She was his pal, his excellent friend, who gave him 
such sympathy and interest and encouragement as he could 
find nowhere else. Because he was young, he drank deep 
and asked no questions. 

He did not imagine for a moment that she was in love 
with him. True, other women were; but then they told 
him so, and alarmed him with their attentions. Lorraine 
was more inclined to laugh at him and make fun of him, 
in a jolly, pally sort of way, which made him feel perfectly 
at home with her, and successfully banish any questions. 

She was more like a man friend, only better, because 
a man would have wanted an equal share of interest, where- 
as Lorraine seemed content to be interested in him. She 
never encouraged him to talk about her triumphs and her 
other friends. She rather implied they were so public and 
apparent already she did not want to hear any more of 
them. 

But she was always ready to talk of his hopes and 
aspirations, and help him to build foundations to his air 
castles. And already, under her tuition and help, he had 
made immense strides. His work and his objects had 
become real to him, ambition had taken root and begun to 
push out little upward shoots. He saw himself one of the 
leading lights at the bar, and instead of lazily scoffiing, he 
liked the picture. He wanted to get there, and if Lorraine 
was ready to help him, why should she not? Why bother 
to ask questions? 

Of course she must be fond of him, or she would not do 
it ; but then he was fond of her, too — very fond — and why 
not ? The mere suggestion of danger did not occur to him. 
She was so many years his senior, and so celebrated, it 
never crossed his mind to suppose she could have any feel- 
ing for him beyond the jolly palliness that seemed to have 
sprung up naturally between them. 

So he came and went between the Temple and her flat 
and his own quarters, and life began to assume a bigness 


208 


WINDING PATHS 


of possibility that drowned all else, and kept him eager 
and hard working and safe from the hurtful influences and 
actions that attend idle hours. 

And Lorraine, for the present, walked in her fool’s 
paradise and was content. She watched him slowly and 
surely fill out both physically and mentally into the promise 
of his splendid manhood. 

She saw his youthful beauty solidifying into the beauty 
of a man, and carefully watered and tended those budding 
shoots of ambition that were to help him attain his best 
promise. 

For the time being the thwarted mother love that is in 
every woman satisfied her with the evidence of his progress, 
and she lulled any other into quiescence, hugging to herself 
the knowledge that it was she alone to whom he would owe 
greatness if he won it, and that even his own doting mother 
had not done, and never could do, the half that she was 
doing to start him on a steadfast way that should lead to 
fame and usefulness. 

She made it her excuse for ignoring the questions which 
her wider knowledge could not entirely banish. To what 
other results the friendship might lead she turned a deaf 
ear. The other results must take care of themselves, was her 
thought ; it was enough for her that she could help to make 
him great. 

She smiled a little at the thought of the women she had 
won him from. He talked to her now freely and openly, 
though always with that unassuming modesty which was so 
attractive. She knew what he had already had to combat. 
What a life of self-pleasing and gay living lay open to him 
if he chose to take it. She knew that, if he chose it, though 
he might still win a certain amount of fame, it would never 
be the well-grounded, stanch, reliable success that she could 
spur him to. 

And so she drew a curtain over the dangers her course 
might hold, and, in a light and airy way, threw over him 


WINDING PATHS 


209 


the glow and the warm attractiveness of her many fascina- 
tions and allurements, that she might keep him free from 
any foolish engagement or low entanglement, to concen- 
trate all his mind and his heart upon his work and her. 

How long such an aim was likely to satisfy her, or how 
natural or unnatural her course, she left with all the other 
questions, to be faced, if necessary, later on, or to pass with 
the swift joy into oblivion. 

At least it was not the first time a woman, scarcely 
young, and having her full measure of success, had turned 
unaccountably to a man very much her junior, for some- 
thing she apparently sought in vain from men of her own 
age. It might be strange, but it was not unique ; and for 
the rest, were not the ways of the little god Love like the 
ways of many events — stranger than fiction ” ? 

His magnificent physique, his extraordinarily beautiful 
head, and his no less extraordinary, unassuming modesty, 
attracted and held her with links that grew stronger and 
stronger, and her happiest hours now were those in which 
he made himself delightfully at home in her fiat, and added 
to his charm by talking to her with the old-fashioned, grand- 
fatherly air she had enjoyed from the first. 

And so Hal found a younger and softer Lorraine than 
she had known for a long time, waiting to hear the burden 
of her tale of woe. 

They talked it over in every aspect, Hal sitting in her 
favorite attitude on a stool at Lorraine’s feet ; but very little 
light could be won through the clouds. All the consolation 
Lorraine could suggest was a possibility that to be engaged 
and married to a man like Dudley might change Doris 
altogether for the better ; but Hal, beyond feeling brighter 
for having spoken out her dismay, felt there was little 
indeed hope of that. 

Have you seen Sir Edwin Crathie again ? ” Lorraine 
asked presently, and she was surprised to see a spot of color 
instantly flame into Hal’s cheeks. 


210 


WINDING PATHS 


“ I’ve had a long motor ride with him/’ she said, speak- 
ing as if it were a mere detail. 

Have you ? was Lorraine’s very expressive rejoinder. 

Why do you say it like that ? ” Hal laughed with 
seeming lightness. He just took me for a treat. He’s rather 
sorry for me, being boxed up in an office, as he calls it.” 

‘^I see. Well, don’t forget he has the reputation for 
being rather a dangerous man, old girl.” 

Hal laughed again. 

^^I’ll tell him so, and go armed with a revolver next 
time.” She noticed an inquiring look in Lorraine’s eyes, 
and added : Don’t look so serious. Lorry ; he is old enough 
to be my father. He likes a little amusement, the same as 
you and Baby Hermon.” 

She turned away as she spoke, and did not see the swift 
deepening of the look of inquiry, nor a certain strange ex- 
pression that flitted across Lorraine’s face ; and almost im- 
mediately the door opened, and Alymer Hermon walked in 
unannounced. 

“ Halloo, Hal ! ” he exclaimed — it’s quite a long time 
since I ran into you here.” 

Halloo, Baby ! ” she retorted. Why, I declare, you 
are beginning to look quite a man.” 

If you don’t mind I’ll pick you up and carry you all 
the way down the stairs to the street; then you’ll see if 
I’m a man or not.” 

Tut ; any big creature could do that ! Got any briefs 
yet?” 

I have.” 

Lorraine looked up instantly with an eager, question- 
ing glance — while Hal asked gayly : 

What is it ? ... I suppose the original holder is sick, 
or dead, or something, and you are a stop-gap.” 

You are wrong. Miss Sharp-tongue. I hold the brief 
entirely on my own. It hasn’t even anything to do with 
anyone in Waltham’s Chambers,” 


WINDING PATHS 


211 


And still Lorraine, with shining eyes, watched his face. 

“ I suppose,” said Hal, the other side have got a very 
small man, and they wanted a big one to frighten him ? ” 

Wrong again. The other side has Pym, and he is quite 
six feet in height.” 

Then perhaps he looks clever, and they believe in con- 
trasts.” 

I shall carry you down to the street yet,” threaten- 
ingly ; you are running grave risks.” 

So is the poor man trusting his defense to you.” 

It happens to be a lady.” 

Hal clapped her hands. 

" Of course,” she cried ; now we are getting at it. The 
lady chose you because she thought your wig and gown be- 
coming. How many interviews shall you be having with 
her ? ” 

I couldn’t say, but we had one this afternoon.” 

And was she very charming ? Did she call you 
Baby ? ” 

He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Lorraine. 

I only waste my substance trying to cope with anyone 
as obtuse as Hal. Is she going to stay to dinner ? ” 

I’m afraid so,” smilingly. 

He took up his stand on the rug, with his back to the 
fire and looked down at Hal on her footstool. 

It’s a pity about the obtuseness,” he commented, be- 
cause she is really rather nice to look at. She has improved 
so much lately.” 

Oh, no, I haven’t,” tilting her nose in the air. I am 
exactly the same; but you have acquired better taste. Is 
he going to stay to dinner, Lorraine? ” 

I’m afraid so. You will have to call a truce, because 
I want to hear all about the brief; and I shall hear nothing 
if you persist in wrangling.” 

''It isn’t my fault,” he said. "'I always try to be 
friends.” 


212 


WINDING PATHS 


Well, as far as that goes, I always try to like you,” Hal 
retorted with a laugh. 

‘^You would find it much easier if you did not hurl 
insults at me. Begin another plan altogether.” 

Come along to dinner,” put in Lorraine, rising, and 
let us hear about this brief.” 

She led the way to the dining room, and they had a 
merry little meal, arranging all about the congratulatory 
dinner Lorraine proposed to give for Alymer to celebrate the 
important occasion of his first brief. 

Afterwards Hal drove to the theater with her, and 
stayed a short time in her room while, as Lorraine phrased 
it, she put on her war paint. 

Then she went rather sadly home alone, feeling lost and 
unhappy about Dudley. It crossed her mind once that 
Lorraine and Alymer Hermon seemed to be on very much 
more familiar terms than previously, but she paid little 
heed to the thought, merely supposing that it amused 
Lorraine to help him in his profession. 

She sat over the fire and tried to read, but presently the 
book went down into her lap, and her eyes sought the 
cheery flicker of the flames. Only there was no answering 
glow in her usually bright face, rather a sad uneasiness and 
perplexity, as if circumstances she hardly knew how to cope 
with were closing in upon her. 

She felt she had come to a difficult path in life she would 
have to face alone; for in her friendship with Sir Edwin 
Crathie neither Dudley nor Lorraine could help her. 

And, gazing into the fire with serious, thoughtful eyes, 
it was neither Dudley and Doris, nor Lorraine and Alymer 
who finally held her thoughts, but Sir Edwin Crathie 
himself. 


CHAPTER XXII 


The first time Sir Edwin rang up the newspaper office 
after the memorable Sunday it happened that Hal had gone 
into the country to report an opening ceremony, graced by 
Royalty, so she was saved the necessity of framing a reply. 

One of the usual reporters being ill, the news editor 
had asked her if she would like to take his place, and she 
had eagerly accepted the chance. It meant a day in the 
country, traveling by special train, and the writing of the 
report did not worry her at all, as she had already served 
her apprenticeship to journalism, and knew how to seize on 
the most interesting points and condense them into a small 
space. 

She had a genius for making friends alsoj and after an 
excellent champagne lunch, and a cup of tea captured for 
her by a pleasant-faced man whom she afterwards discov- 
ered to be the Earl of Roxley, she motored back to the rail- 
way station with a well-known aeronaut, who promised to 
take her for a fly some day. They traveled up to town 
in the same compartment, and as Hal had to have her article 
ready for press when she reached the office, it was necessary 
to write it in the train. 

The flying man wished to turn his hand to journal- 
ism, too, and attempted to help her, without much success, 
though with a good deal of entertainment for himself. He 
was specially amused at her determination to lay con- 
siderable stress on the fact that one of the horses in the 
royal carriage fell down between the station and the park. 

What’s the good of putting that in?” he argued; 
it is' of no importance.” 


213 


214 


WINDING PATHS 


^^AYhy, it’s almost the most important thing of all,” 
she declared. ‘^You evidently don’t know much about 
journalism. The public will not be half as interested in 
the King’s speech as in the information that one of the 
horses fell down, and that the King then put his hand on 
the Queen’s, and told her not to be frightened.” 

But he didn’t ; and the horse only slipped.” 

But you’re too dense ! ” she cried, and, anyhow, you 
can’t be certain that he didn’t. It’s what he ought to 
have done, and the British public will be awfully pleased 
to know that he did. They’ll be frightfully interested in 
the horse falling down, too. I suppose you would leave 
it out, and give dates of the building of the edifice, and 
the different styles of architecture, and the names of illus- 
trious people connected with it. As if anyone wanted to 
know that ! The horse will make far better reading, though 
I dare say I ought to work in a few costs of things. The 
B. P. loves to know what a thing costs.” 

Well, why not value the horse, as you think so much 
of it ? or say that it snapped a trace in half which cost two 
guineas, and was bought in Bond Street ? ” 

They both laughed, and then Hal said seriously: 

I think I’ll make it kick over the center pole ; only 
then perhaps some of the other reporters will catch it for 
not having seen the kick also. I once wrote an account 
of a garden party, and left out that the horses of the Prime 
Minister’s carriage shied and swerved, and one wheel caught 
against the gate post. As a matter of fact, it did not do 
much more than graze it, but some journalist wrote a 
thrilling account of how the carriage nearly turned over; 
and I’ve never forgotten the chief’s face when he asked 
me why I hadn’t mentioned the accident to the Prime 
Minister’s carriage. I said there wasn’t an accident, and 
he snapped : ' Well you’d better have turned them all in a 
heap in the road than left it out altogether ! ’ 

I’ve never made the same mistake since,” she fin- 


WINDING PATHS 


£15 


ished, and now, if the chief sees my paragraphs, he has to 
ring some one up occasionally, and make sure I haven’t 
gone out of bounds altogether.” 

Well, if you’re quite determined to lie ... I mean 
romance . . . why not do it thoroughly? Let the King 
leap out of the carriage, with the Queen in his arms, and 
the royal coachman fall backward of the box — and — and — 
both the horses burst out laughing ! ” 

I’d get the sack for that,” Hal spluttered, busily ply- 
ing her pencil, and then I’d break my heart, because I’m 
in love with the chief.” 

Oh ” — with a low laugh, and is it quite hopeless ? ” 
Quite. The most hopeless grande passion that ever 
was. He’s been married twice already, and the second 
is still very much alive. Did the Queen wear a black hat, 
or a dark purple one?” 

Dark purple, of course, like her dress. Why, I could 
write the thing better than you.” 

I’m sure you could, if you might have half the news- 
paper. I don’t know where you’d be in thirty-six lines ! ” 
By Jove ! Have you got to squeeze it all into thirty- 
six lines?” 

‘^Less, if possible. There’s been a row in Berlin, and 
we have to allow for thrilling developments, which may 
crowd out lots of other paragraphs.” 

“ And supposing you want it a few lines longer ? ” 

^^Then the compiler will add a bit on about the 
weather, or throw in another dress description, or some- 
thing. I’m putting you in now,” scribbling on ; but I 
don’t know your name?” 

"" And I’m not going to tell it to you for your precious 
paragraph, so you’ll have to cross that bit out again.” 

Not at all,” airily: a well-known aeronaut, who has 
recently beaten the distance record, and is looking remark- 
ably well in spite of his advanced years, was among the 
distinguished guests ! ” 


216 


WINDING PATHS 


He had to cry pax ” then. 

I give yon up/^ he said ; you’re too much for me ! 
But I’ll take you for a fly the first opportunity I get. Will 
you come ? ” 

Will I come ! . . .” in eager tones. Oh, won’t I ? ” 
And he promised to arrange it. 

When they reached Euston, Hal had to dash for the 
first taxi, and tear to the office with her report, and it was 
not until she was leaving that the call boy told her a gen- 
tleman had asked for her on the telephone in the afternoon. 

Did he give any name ? ” she asked. 

Yes, Mr. Crathie.” 

Hal suppressed a smile. I suppose you told him I 
was out.” 

" Yes, miss. He wanted to know when you would be 
back, and I asked Mr. Watson, and he told me to say ^ Not 
before evening.’ ” 

Hal climbed to the top of a bus, and journeyed home- 
ward with a thoughtful air. Of course he would ring 
her up again the next day, and then what was she to 
say? 

In the meantime, looming big in her immediate horizon 
was the visit to be paid to Holloway that evening. She 
was going up without Dudley, having expressed a wish to 
do so, with which he had willingly complied. She felt it 
would be easier not to appear forced without him, and 
would be fairer on Doris also. Yet she dreaded the visit 
very much, and longed that it was over. 

Ethel opened the door to her, as she happened to be in 
the little kitchen close beside it, and Hal thought she 
looked very ill as she grasped her hand with warm friendli- 
ness, saying: 

How nice of you to come and see Doris so soon.” 

What are you doing in the kitchen ? ” said Hal. I 
want to come and help.” 

I’m only making a salad, and shall not be long. You 


WINDING PATHS 


217 


must go to the parlor^"; and she laughed at the quaint, 
old-fashioned word. 

^^No, I’m coming to help,” and Hal walked past her, . 
through the open door. ''How’s Basil? Dudley spoke 
as if he was not quite so well just now.” 

"I’m afraid he isn’t,” with sudden, hardly veiled 
anxiety ; " but it may only be the foggy weather.” 

To anyone else Ethel would probably have asserted 
that he was as well as usual, and changed the subject; but 
she liked Hal specially, and showed it by being quite 
honest with her. She also knew perfectly well that Dud- 
ley’s engagement must have been a great shock to his only 
sister, not solely because she had nothing whatever in com- 
mon with Doris, but because she herself must love him; 
and her heart felt very tender and friendly over her. 

Although Hal had come to see Doris, she did not refrain 
from following her inclination, and seating herself on the 
kitchen table to chat to Ethel while she made the salad. 
Doris would keep, was her rapid mental conclusion, and they 
two might not get another chance of a few words alone. 

Chatting thus, it was interesting to note the similarity 
that existed between these wielders of the pen, each daily 
immersed in a city office. 

Each had the same clear, frank eyes, the same indepen- 
dent poise of head, the same air of capable energy and self- 
dependence. Each, too, had the same rather colorless skin, 
from lack of fresh air, though, whereas Ethel looked tired 
and worn, Hal seemed strong and fresh and wore no air of 
delicacy. 

Then Doris came, with her pink-and-white daintiness, 
and spoke to them both with a little triumphant air of con- 
descension ; for was not she engaged to be married, whereas 
clever, working women usually became " old maids ” ? 

Hall tried not to seem too offhand, but it was quite im- 
possible for her to gush, and she could not pretend a sud- 
den affection just because of the engagement. So she just 


218 


WINDING PATHS 


said something about Dudley being very happy, and hoped 
they would have good luck, and then went to the sitting 
room to talk to Basil, entertaining him immensely with 
her account of the day’s ceremony, and her haphazard 
friendship with the “ flying man,” who was going to take 
her in his aeroplane. 

Who was he ? ” Basil asked. Has he won any 
prizes ? ” 

I don’t know. He did not tell me. I did not dis- 
cover his name either, but he was some relation of the 
^ Lord of the Manor ’ person who received the King.” 

You don’t know his name ? ” asked Doris in a 
shocked voice. Weren’t you introduced ? ” 

Never a bit of it,” laughed Hal. I was left behind 
when the last fly had gone to the station, and he heard me 
asking anxiously how soon one would get back again, and 
immediately offered me a seat in the motor he was going in. 
Another man was with him, a much bemedaled officer, 
who was somewhat heavy in hand to talk to, and at the 
station we gave him the slip.” 

How can he take you for a fly if you don’t know who 
he is?” 

Well, I dare say he won’t; quite likely he didn’t mean 
it; but if he did, he can easily And me at the office. He 
knew my name, and what paper I was there for. They 
both knew, which probably accounts for the gentleman 
with the medals being somewhat ponderous — soldiers are 
usually snobbish — and he may not have liked having to 
ride to the station with a newspaper woman.” 

^^But if the other man was the Lord of the Manor’s 
brother ? ” 

Oh, that wouldn’t make any difference. He might 
very well be less self-important than anything in a bit of 
scarlet and medals if he had been the Lord of the Manor 
himself. Why, the Earl of Roxley got tea for me, and was 
most attentive.” 


WINDING PATHS 


219 


Doris’s eyes opened wider. She had always secretly 
entertained rather a superior attitude toward Hal and 
her sister, and was glad she was not an office clerk. The 
big, breezy, working world, where the individual is taken 
on his or her merits apart from birth, or standing, or occu- 
pation, was quite unknown to her; and that Hal’s original, 
attractive personality might open doors forever shut to 
her mediocre, pretty, young ladyhood, would never enter 
her mind. 

I don’t think I should care to talk to anyone without 
being introduced,” she remarked a little affectedly, to 
which Hal shrugged her shoulders and commented: 

It’s just as well you haven’t to knock about in the 
world, then. Anyone with an ounce of common sense and 
perspicacity knows when it is safe, and when it is sheer 
folly.” 

Basil watched her with an amused air. 

I’m sure you do,” he said. 

Yes.” She smiled infectiously. I’ve only once been 
spoken to unpleasantly in London, after knocking about 
for seven years, and then I offered the man a sixpence. I 
said : ^ I’m sorry I haven’t any more, and I can’t spare 

that, but if you are hungry! . . .’ He looked as if he 
would like to slay me, and vanished.” 

Doris still looked slightly disapproving, and when at 
last Hal rose to go, she half-unconsciously asked Ethel 
with her eyes to accompany her to get her hat, instead of 
her prospective sister-in-law. And when they were alone, 
Ethel looked into Hal’s expressive face, and guessing some- 
thing of what she carefully hid, said sympathetically : 

^^You and Dudley have always been so much to each 
other ; I am afraid you must feel it a little having to share 
him already with another.” 

Suddenly and inexplicably Hal’s eyes filled with tears, 
and she turned away quite unable to answer. 

Ethel pretended not to notice, but her heart bled for 
15 


220 WINDING PATHS 

her, knowing how much worse it was than just the fact of 
the engagement. 

I’m so wrapped up in Basil,” she went on, that if it 
had happened to me I should have felt quite heartbroken, 
however much I told myself I wanted his happiness.” 

Hal dabbed her eyes a little viciously. 

Of course I want him to be happy,” she managed to 
say ; “ but it is nice of you to understand.” 

There’s one thing,” Ethel continued, you will become 
a sort of relation, and you’ve no idea how pleased Basil and 
I will be about that.” 

“ Will you ? ” Hal smiled through her tears, I rather 
wonder at it.” 

Of course we shall. Basil and I think you are one of 
the finest characters we have ever known. You’ve no idea 
how proud we are when you come to see us,” which proved 
Ethel’s understanding heart, for a little generous praise is 
a kind healer to a sore spirit. 

Hal looked into her eyes, with a pleased light in her own. 

You are too generous ; but it’s nice to be thought well 
of by anyone like you and Basil. I shall remember it when 
I am silly enough to be downhearted, and it will cheer 
me up.” 

She had to hurry away then to catch a train, and as she 
went her mind was full of the thought : 

Why, oh, why had Dudley, in his blindness, wooed the 
younger sister ? ” 

‘‘ Well ? ” he said, as she entered their sitting room, 
where he was reading over the fire. “ How did you get on ? ” 

Oh, splendidly ” — trying to throw a little enthusiasm 
into her voice. Doris looked amazingly pretty.” 

She saw a soft light in his eyes, and because it rather 
maddened her, she hastened to add: ^‘But I see a great 
change in Basil.” 

Yes ? . . . I wondered if you would. I was afraid he 
did not seem so well.” 


WINDING PATHS 


221 


Dudley ” — with sudden seriousness — when Basil 
dies, it will just about break Ethel up. She idolizes him/’ 

I know ; but she can hardly wish him to live on if he 
continues to grow worse.” 

I suppose not ; but it’s rather awful to think of what 
it will mean to her to lose him. And she’s so sympathetic 
and tender-hearted.” Hal stood a moment looking gravely 
at the fire — you know, I think she’s the most splendid per- 
son I’ve ever known.” 

Splendid ! ...” a trifle testily. Why ? Splendid 
seems an odd word to use.” 

^^It’s the one that suits Ethel Hayward best of all. 
Anything else would be too commonplace. When I think 
what her life is — the endless struggle to make both ends 
meet — work morning, noon, and night — and on the top of 
it all the brother she adores a helpless, suffering invalid, it 
quite overawes me. If she were bitter and complaining it 
would be different, but she is nearly always cheerful and 
hopeful and ready to think of some one else’s troubles. 
And yet she isn’t goody-goody — nor what one describes as 
^ worthy ’ ; she’s just human through and through.” 

She sometimes seems to me a little severe,” he said. 

Severe ! . . . Oh, Dudley, she is the kindest soul 
alive.” 

Perhaps she was tired ; but it seemed to me, consider- 
ing Doris’s youth, she expected rather a lot of her.” 

^^Ah! . . .” 

Hal turned away, and picked up an evening paper. The 
exclamation might have meant anything, yet Dudley half 
knew it meant that in some way Hal believed Doris had 
willfully misrepresented her sister, and, naturally resenting 
the inference, he returned to his book and said no more. 

Hal lingered a little longer, passed one or two remarks 
on the evening news, told him of her day in the country, 
and then went to bed. 

Yet, in spite of her soreness toward Doris, something 


222 


WINDING PATHS 


in her evening with Ethel had unaccountably cheered and 
refreshed her — the kindly praise, the warm-hearted affec- 
tion, the sight of the strong, womanly face, unembittered 
by its heavy sorrow. 

Hal stood at her window, and glanced out over the 
city, and felt renewed in her determination to withstand 
Sir Edwin Crathie’s advances. She knew that he was 
treating her with a lack of respect he would not have dared 
to show a woman in his own circle. 

He was treating her as a city typist; and however 
pleasant the friendship had been, and however much she 
wished to prolong it, she knew she owed it to herself to 
cut it adrift. 

And the next day, when the anticipated telephone call 
came, her resolution was firm and unshaken. 

Tell the gentleman I am engaged,’’ she told the call 

boy. 

He came back again a moment later to know what 
time she would be disengaged, and she gave the message: 

It is quite impossible to say. I have some most im- 
portant work on hand.” 

The small boy grinned in a way that made Hal long 
to box his ears, but she returned to her work, and pre- 
tended not to see. 

At the other end of the wire the speaker sat back in 
his chair and muttered an oath; then for some moments 
he stared gloomily at his desk. 

Damn it ! I like her pluck,” ran his thoughts ; but 
I don’t mean to be put off like that. I’ve got to see her 
again somehow, if it’s only to prove I’m not the cad she 
thinks me.” 


CHAPTER XXIII 


The following afternoon when Hal left the office about 
half-past four she saw a motor she recognized a little way 
down the street, and was almost immediately accosted by 
Sir Edwin himself. 

I knew you left at this time/’ he said frankly, so I 
came to meet you.” 

Hal looked a little taken aback. 

I wonder why you did that,” was all she found to say. 

Well, it was the only way, since you won’t come to 
the telephone, and I am afraid to call on you in Blooms- 
bury. I want to talk to you. Come along and have some 
tea.” 

Hal hesitated, looking doubtfully at the motor, but he 
urged her on. 

Come ; surely you’re not afraid to have a cup of tea 
with me. We’ll go to the Carlton — or the Ritz if you 
prefer it — and take a conspicuous table.” 

In my office garments ! ” with a low laugh. I don’t 
want to be taken for your housekeeper.” 

^^My housekeeper is a deuce of a swell,” laughing in 
his turn. She certainly wouldn’t be seen in a last year’s 
frock; but you’re one of the lucky people who manage 
to look smart, even in office clothes, as you call them — so 
come along.” 

Hal got into the motor. 

Which is it to be ? Ritz or Carlton ? ” 

Oh, Carlton — and not the center table.” 

223 


WINDING PATHS 


How do you manage it ? ” he said, as they glided off, 
looking at her with critical, admiring eyes. 

Manage what ? I wish you wouldn’t look at me like 
a doctor studying my health. I shall put my tongue out in 
a minute.” 

Don’t do that. A colleague or an opponent would 
be sure to be looking, and I don’t know which would be 
worse. Manage to look smart in anything, of course, I 
mean.” 

Oh, it’s Lorraine Vivian and her maid ; they loathe 
to see me dowdy.” 

With a little help from the Almighty, who gave you 
a haughty little nose and a short upper lip,” he told her 
laughingly. You’ve been very angry with me, I’m afraid, 
and no doubt I deserved it, but I’m going to make you be 
friends again and forgive me.” 

You won’t find it easy.” 

I dare say not ; but I’m going to try all the same. 
Shall I begin with a humble apology ? ” 

You couldn’t be humble. I shouldn’t believe in it.” 

I believe I could with you — which means a great deal. 
Tell me, were you fully determined not to speak to me on 
the telephone, and not to see me again ? ” 

Most certainly I was.” 

What nonsense ! And did you really suppose I should 
submit without making an effort to see you, and persuade 
you to be friends again ? ” 

Hal tilted her nose up a little, and glanced away as she 
replied a trifle scathingly: 

I supposed, having found I was not the sort of girl 
you imagined, and not one you could take liberties with, 
that possibly our friendship would cease to interest you.” 

He colored slightly. 

‘^You hit hard, but I suppose I have deserved it. I 
shall now have to prove to you that I’ve turned over a new 
leaf, and deserve it no longer.” 


WINDING PATHS 


225 


They stopped before the Carlton as he spoke, and he 
led the way into the lounge, and to a side table. 

''I’m sure you’ll trust me this far,” he said; "people 
stare so when one is in the middle of the room.” 

Hal sat down and drew off her gloves, feeling, in spite 
of herself, unmistakably happy. It was good to be there, 
instead of trudging home to Bloomsbury ; and it was spe- 
cially good to be chatting to him again. 

A dear friend may be always a dear friend, and yet not 
just the one one wants at the moment. When things are 
difficult, and irritating, and disappointing, the pleasant- 
est companion is apt to be the one with so much indi- 
vidual regard for us at the time that we can hold 
forth upon our troubles without any fear of boring our 
listener. 

When Hal had poured her tale of woe into Lorraine’s 
ear, she had known that Lorraine was genuinely interested 
and sorry — and yet, also, that something else occupied her 
mind at the same time. Sitting now, opposite to Sir 
Edwin Crathie, it was perfectly apparent for the time be- 
ing that his mind was entirely at her service. 

This was further shown by the fact that he realized 
something was worrying her before she told him. 

" What’s the matter ? ” he asked abruptly ; " you look 
as if something very boring had happened.” 

" It has.” 

Hal kept her eyes lowered a moment, with a thoughtful 
air, and the corners of the fascinating mouth drooped a 
little. 

" What has happened ? . . . Tell me what is bothering 
you.” 

He spoke peremptorily, yet with an evident concern for 
her that made the peremptory tone dangerously alluring. 
Hal remained silent, though shp felt her pulses quicken, 
and he added : 

" Come, we are going to be friends again ; aren’t we ? 


WINDING PATHS 


I’ve told you I’m very sorry; I can’t do more. You will 
really have to forgive me now.” 

She looked into his face, and something in his eyes 
told her he was quite genuine for the time. Of course it 
might be rash, and unwise, and various other things, but it 
had been a difficult, trying week, and his sympathy was 
passing good now. Sir Edwin met her gaze for a moment, 
and then lowered his. 

He thought it was chiefly when her eyes laughed that 
he wanted to kiss her, but when they had that serious, 
rather appealing expression, he began to feel they were 
more disturbing still. Mastering his unmanageable senses 
with an effort, he looked up again, and said: 

Well, what is it ? Of course you must tell me.” 

‘^Brother Dudley is going to be married,” said Hal 
with her usual directness. 

When ? ” And Sir Edwin gave a low exclamation 
of surprise. Isn’t it rather sudden ? ” 

Very,” in dry tones. 

^^And I suppose you don’t want to love your prospec- 
tive sister-in-law all in a hurry.” 

I don’t want to love her at all.” 

Then I don’t suppose you will,” with a little laugh. 

Presumably you know her.” 

I have known her a long time. If I had been asked, 
she is the last girl I could have believed Dudley would care 
for. I don’t believe he does care for her in the real sense. 
She is very pretty, and she wanted to marry him, and she 
just played on his feelings.” 

''What do you call 'in the real sense’?” he asked 
pointedly. 

A pink spot burned in Hal’s cheeks; she felt the ques- 
tion a little beside the mark, and did not want to answer it. 

" She has rather a di\ll home, and is very poor, and I 
think she thought on the whole life would be improved if 
she were Dudley’s wife.” 


WINDHSTG PATHS 


227 


And that is not the real sense ? ” insistently. 

It certainly is not love.” 

Well, you haven’t yet told me what is ? ” 

I don’t know much about it, and ” — ^hastily — I 
don’t want to. When it’s real it hurts, and when it isn’t 
real it’s just feebleness.” 

Still, you must know some day.” 

He liked to see the spot of color spreading in her 
cheeks, and the frank eyes growing a little defiant as he 
pressed her against her will. 

It doesn’t follow that I must. Perhaps I shall just be 
feeble, and marry for a home and luxuries.” 

Never,” with conviction. You’ll — Hal, you’ll get it 

badly when once you’re caught.” 

I never said you might call me ^ Hal.’ ” 

Didn’t you ? Well, I apologize. May I ? ” 

She could not help laughing. 

You evidently mean to ; and I suppose you usually 
have your own way.” 

Very often. That’s sensible of you. Of course 
you are sometimes annoyingly sensible and practical. 
I don’t know that I ever liked anyone quite so level 
headed before. It never appealed to me. Yet, somehow, 
I think you could lose your head. You’ve got it in you 
to do so. I wouldn’t give twopence for a woman who 
hadn’t.” 

Hal was silent, and, as usual, he pressed his point. 

Do you think you could lose your head ? ” 

"" I don’t think I shall,” was the evasive answer. 

I wonder,” he said. 

She felt him looking hard into her face, and moved 
restlessly beneath a scrutiny that quickened her pulses and 
warmed her blood in a way that was altogether new. Then 
suddenly she looked up. 

Don’t you think we are rather talking drivel ? Let’s 
get back to the original subject. I don’t want to lose my 


228 WINDING PATHS 

head — it’s rather a nice one — sound and reliable and all 
that.” 

He sat back in his chair with a laugh. 

You’re very clever,” he told her admiringly. I al- 
ways seem to be outflanked in the end. Very well then, 
Brother Dudley has got engaged foolishly, and Hal has 
been quietly fretting, instead of being a sensible little wom- 
an, and telling her friend all about it straight away.' What 
are you going to do now ? ” 

I can’t do anything. He won’t get married for a few 
months anyway.” 

And when he does ? ” 

Then I shall stay where I am, and make the best of 
it, I suppose. But — but” — her voice broke a little — 
I’m a positive fool about Dudley. I can’t bear to lose 
him.” 

Poor little woman. Well, I’ll be good to you if you’ll 
let me. I dare say I can brighten things up a little. 
Every cloud has a silver lining, you know.” 

I don’t know where Dudley’s will be,” with a wintry 
smile. It wouldn’t be so hard if I thought there was 
any chance of his being happy. But there isn’t. He 
doesn’t in the least know her real character.” 

They sat on until seven o’clock, and then Hal rose to 
go, feeling happier than she had done ever since they last 
met. 

^^Well, am I forgiven?” he asked, as she buttoned her 
gloves. 

You are, for the present,” with an arch glance; ^^but 
I reserve the right to retract at a moment’s notice.” 

And in the meantime you will prove it by coming out 
to lunch on Sunday ? We might go to the Zoo afterwards, 
and make friends with some of the animals.” 

At the first suggestion of lunch Hal had been ready to 
shy away, but the idea of the Zoo on Sunday afternoon was 
too much for her, and she said with unmistakable longing ; 


WINDING PATHS 


229 


I should simply love the Zoo/' Then, after a pause : 

Couldn't I meet you there about three ? " 

But why wait until three ? It is not very friendly of 
you to refuse to lunch with me." 

I usually go to Lorraine " — somewhat lamely. 

Why not bring Miss Vivian with you ? " 

Oh, could I ? " eagerly ; that would be splendid — 
if she is disengaged." 

A curious little half smile crossed his eyes at her eager- 
ness ; but he only said : 

Certainly, and if she cares to bring a friend, to make 
the party an even number, I shall be only too pleased. 
Shall we say the Piccadilly, for a change, at 1.30?" 

Hal thanked him, and as she sped homeward in a taxi 
he had procured for her, she viewed the prospect with real 
delight. 

Dudley, of course, would be spending his Sunday with 
Doris, and she and Lorraine, supposing the latter were 
disengaged, might have found the afternoon a little long 
alone. The evening was the occasion of the dinner party 
to commemorate Alymer Hermon's first brief, so it was 
very likely Lorraine would be free at midday. 

She thought it was nice of Sir Edwin to invite her 
friend as well, and as she reviewed the afternoon meeting, 
her heart was foolishly glad over his apology, and insistent 
determination to be friends.. It was evident, she believed, 
that if she adhered to her resolute resistance of familiarity, 
she would be able to keep him at a discreet distance, and 
they might enjoy a really delightful friendship. 

Her eyes were smiling and glad at the little upper 
window that night. She had hated cutting off their friend- 
ship. The days had been dull and dragging without even 
a telephone chat with him; and though she still told her- 
self it was chiefly because of the shock of Dudley's engage- 
ment, she knew it was a little for his sake also. 

And she thought further, if they might now include 


230 


WliSTDING PATHS 


Lorraine in some of their meetings, it would be an added 
safeguard, and very entertaining as well. She meant to 
telephone to her the first thing in the morning to fix up 
their Sunday engagement. 

Inquiries on the telephone, however, the next morning, 
elicited the information that Lorraine had already ar- 
ranged to go out to lunch; and thus Hal found herself 
unexpectedly thrown on her own resources. A little note 
from Ethel asking her to accompany Dudley if she had 
nothing better to do, placed her in a further awkward 
position. 

She did not want to go Holloway, to swell the number 
of mouths to be fed out of Ethel’s slender housekeeping 
purse, and add one more to be cooked for, etc., on Ethel’s 
one free day. Finally, because it was the simplest, as well 
as the pleasantest thing to do, she telephoned Sir Edwin, 
and told him Lorraine could not accompany her on Sun- 
day, but she would be there herself, and afterwards go to 
the Zoo. 

And at the other end of the wire Sir Edwin smiled, 
an enigmatical smile that was unmistakably pleased, as he 
put back the receiver, and glanced toward the cozy fire in 
his grate. 

I wonder,” he said to himself meditatively, if one 
could make her care, whether she could care enough to 
lose her head.” 


CHAPTER XXIV 


It was rather a curious circumstance, that on the oc- 
casion of Lorraine’s dinner party, Alymer Hermon was 
the first to notice an indefinable change in Hal. To the 
others she was only gayer than usual, more sparkling, better 
looking. 

From the Zoological Gardens Sir Edwin had taken her 
home in a taxi, and after being a delightful companion all 
the afternoon, had said good-by in just the friendly, pally 
spirit that Hal wished, without exhibiting any alarming 
symptoms whatever to disturb her peace of mind. He had 
indeed been at his very best; far nicer than ever before; 
and together they had thoroughly enjoyed their inter- 
course, through iron bars, with the animals they both loved. 

Moreover, his knowledge on most subjects did not ex- 
clude zoology, and he was able to tell her numberless little 
details of the ways and habits of beasts that Hal rejoiced 
to hear, because she loved all four-footed things. 

And then there had been the pleasant consciousness of 
a new winter costume, that was not only very up to date, 
but remarkably becoming; and Hal was true woman 
enough to enjoy the knowledge that she looked her best. 
Neither was it in any degree a mediocre ^^best”; and even 
Sir Edwin was a little surprised to find himself with a 
companion who attracted nearly as many admiring glances 
as various lady friends who were recognized beauties. 

Her slim, graceful figure was singularly perfect, and, 
as he observed with fresh pleasure each time they met, she 
walked with a natural elegance and grace that were a de- 
231 


232 


WINDING PATHS 


light to the eye. And happiness gave a faint pink flush 
to her cheeks and a light to her eyes, that somehow seemed 
to radiate gayety; and her intense power of enjoyment 
communicated itself to others in a way that was wholly 
delightful. 

So they spent a gay afternoon, which cemented the 
former acquaintanceship into a firmer bond of friendship, 
and because of it he vowed within himself he would play 
fair with her, and make no more advances he was not 
prepared to follow up in an honorable spirit. 

For Hal, it was enough that the past mistake seemed 
genuinely regretted and wiped out, and that all his manner 
to her now held deference and respect. And she was in- 
tensely glad — almost alarmingly glad, if she had stopped 
to consider; only that would have cast a shadow on the 
sunshine; and she preferred to take the sunshine while it 
offered, and leave the future to take care of itself. 

And in the meantime there was Lorraine’s dinner 
party, instead of a lonely evening, and once more she 
dressed herself with care and skill; and later stood up 
straight and slim in Lorraine’s pretty drawing-room, radi- 
ating happiness, and surprising even old friends with her 
good looks. 

Alymer Hermon remarked it first. He was standing 
beside her on the hearth, and he looked down from his 
great height with laughing, quizzical eyes and said : 

You’re looking astonishingly pretty to-night. Have 
you been consulting a beauty specialist ? ” 

Dick Bruce and Quin laughed delightedly. 

Why, of course ! ” cried Dick, digging his hands deep 
into his pockets, and giving himself a little gleeful shake, 
I’ve been puzzling my head to grasp what it was. I’d 
forgotten all about the beauty specialists. It must have 
cost an awful lot, Hal.” 

^^It did,” she told them; ^^but you’ve no idea how 
clever they are. They can renovate the most hopeless faces. 


WINDING PATHS 233 

I’m sure you’d all find it worth while running to the 
expense.” 

Now, come, Hal,” objected Quin laughingly. We 
can’t have the ornament of our fiat insulted like that. The 
rising barrister needs no beauty specialist, you must ad- 
mit.” 

Hal looked up at the giant with twitching lips. 

I was going to suggest a brain specialist for him. It 
won’t be much use getting lots of briefs because he looks 
nice in his wig and gown if he hasn’t the brains to win 
his cases.” 

Hermon caught her by the shoulders to shake her, and 
at that moment Lord Denton quietly entered the room. 

Lorraine had met him in the hall, while hastening 
across for something she had forgotten, and told him to 
go in, so that he entered unannounced, and saw the group 
before they knew of his presence. 

Especially he seemed to see the two on the hearth rug. 
Hal, with her shining eyes, rising color, and laughing lips, 
and Hermon with a sort of answering glow on his face, 
boyishly gripping her shoulders as if to shake her. He 
stood and looked at them a moment without speaking, then 
Hal espied him, and thinking he had that instant entered, 
exclaimed : 

Help ! . . . Help ! . . . Lord Denton, I am caught in 
the clutches of Leviathan.” 

He came forward smilingly. 

Leviathan does not look as if he meant to eat you ; and 
even if he did, I don’t believe my courage would run to 
closing with six foot five and a half.” 

Awful, isn’t it ? ” she said, releasing herself and giv- 
ing him her hand. He is like those lanky pieces of corn 
which are all stalk and no head. Have you seen him be- 
fore ? ” 

Once,” offering his hand to Hermon. Delighted to 
see you again. I hear you’ve made a hit already. My 


234 


WINDING PATHS 


cousin tells me his friend is charmed with your way of 
grappling with her case/^ 

Did you take her by the shoulders ? ” asked Hal wick- 
edly, rubbing her own. 

No,^^ Lord Denton told her. He was very grave in- 
deed. You must give him his due. Miss Pritchard. You’ve 
seen him grave yourself, haven’t you now ? ” 

Yes ; and he looked like a boiled owl. On the whole, I 
prefer him imbecile.” 

Alymer turned on her threateningly, but she slipped be- 
hind the other two, saying : 

Have you met these also. Lord Denton. Mr. St. Quin- 
tin, of Shoreditch, and my cousin, Dick Bruce, poet, novel- 
ist, and mother’s help.” 

Denton shook hands with them genially, and then Lor- 
raine came back, and they all followed her to the dining 
room. 

The repast was a very gay one. Everyone was in the 
best of spirits, and, which is more important still, all were 
in attune, and there was no dissentient note. Hal was per- 
haps the gayest, and Lord Denton found himself watching 
her almost as if he were seeing her for the first time. She 
seemed to him to have developed amazingly in the few 
months since he last met her, but he supposed girls of her 
age often developed quickly. 

Yet even then it seemed a little strange that the merry, 
rather crude young typist, as he had regarded her before, 
should so easily appear a sparkling, distinguished guest. 
He could not help a little mental comparison with Lorraine, 
not in any way to the latter’s detriment, but with a 
vague thought at the back of his mind concerning her and 
Hermon. 

Lorraine would always be beautiful : her whole face and 
form were modeled on lines that would stand the ravages 
of many years ; and for him she would ever be one of the 
dearest of women ; but could she match Hal’s young, vigor- 


WINDING PATHS 


235 


ous independence, that was very likely to prove more at- 
tractive than a generously given devotion ? 

Men^ like women, are drawn to an indifference that 
piques them ; and he, man of the world that he was, foresaw 
a strong, irresistible attraction about HaFs spirited in- 
dependence. 

But, on the other hand, Lorraine was intensely sym- 
pathetic and understanding, as well as beautiful; and it 
seemed strange, indeed, if any man she chose to enslave 
could resist her. 

He watched Hermon bend his fair head down to her 
dark one, with an affectionate, protective air, that was very 
becoming to him; and observed that with Hal it was all 
sparring, and told himself Lorraine had nothing to fear. 

They toasted Hermon on his brief, and on the laurel 
wreath Dick announced he already perceived sprouting on 
his manly brow. Hal said it was only a daisy chain, or the 
halo of a cherubim ; and the laurels were rightly sprouting 
on Dick’s brow as a novelist. 

Hermon returned thanks in a witty, clever little speech, 
during which Lorraine seemed scarcely able to take her eyes 
from his face, and Lord Denton recognized more fully the 
extraordinary attraction such a man must wield, whether 
by intention or quite unconsciously. 

He pictured him towering a head and shoulders above 
nearly everyone around at the law courts, with his clear- 
cut, fine face, looking yet more striking in the severe setting 
of a wig and gown ; and he knew that Lorraine had made no 
mistake when she said he only wanted impetus and a chance 
to make a name for himself. If he could rap out a dainty 
little speech like this at a moment’s notice, wearing just 
that air of unpretentious, boyish humor, his path ought 
undoubtedly to be a path of roses, petted by women, ad- 
mired and appreciated by men. 

In conclusion,” he was saying, may I suggest a toast 
to Miss Pritchard ? I am sure you will all join me in offer- 
16 


236 


WINDING PATHS 


ing her our warmest congratulation^ upon her sudden and 
unlooked-for promotion, from a somewhat nondescript 
young person to a brilliant and beautiful society belle/’ 

Speech ! speech ! ” cried Dick and Quin to her glee- 
fully, noisily rattling their glasses, and Hal got to her feet. 

‘^Ladies and gentlemen and Baby Alymer Hermon,” 
she began. You must allow me to acknowledge your kind 
toast by congratulating you all, in return, upon the sudden 
and swift development of your powers of vision and per- 
spicacity: equaled only, I may say, by your extraordinary 
dullness in not having observed long ago those traits for 
which you are pleased, at this late hour, to offer me your 
congratulations. Before I sit down I should like to suggest 
we all drink the healths of the celebrated actress who is our 
hostess, of a bishop in the making — ” signifying Quin; 

a great novelist in the brewing, and a gentleman, justly 
celebrated for the eloquence and ease with which he does 
nothing at all ” — and she bowed to Lord Denton. 

Capital ! ” he exclaimed. I am evidently dining in 
very distinguished company to-night ” ; a little later, turn- 
ing to Dick, he added : “ How soon, may I ask, will this 
great novel be procurable by the general public ? ” 

Before Dick could reply, Hal intercepted gayly : 

‘^Well, I think the carrots and turnips have fallen out 
as to which takes precedence at a dinner party : isn’t that so, 
Dick? And until the difficult question is settled, progress 
halts.” 

Something of the kind,” agreed Dick promptly ; and 
there is also discord among the vegetable marrows and 
pumpkins on a similar question ; but when the Baby Brigade 
has settled the views of the trade unions, and reversed the 
Osborne judgment, we shall be able to proceed smoothly.” 

It sounds a very extraordinary type of novel,” said 
Lorraine. 

" It is. I wanted, if possible, to write something even 
more imbecile than has ever yet been written. I have not 


WINDING PATHS 


237 


the patience for great length; nor the wit for brilliant 
satire; nor the imagination for the popular, spicy, im- 
possible, ill-favored romance; so I have chosen the other 
line, adopted by the great majority, and aim at purposeless, 
pointless imbecility.’’ 

^^And is Hal the model for your heroine?” asked 
Hermon. 

When Hal’s indignation and epithets had subsided. 
Quin remarked that he supposed the book fairly bristled 
with mothers, and with paragraphs of good advice to them. 

Well, yes,” Dick admitted. There are certainly a 
good many mothers — far more mothers than wives, in fact.” 

Oh, naughty ! ” put in Lord Denton. 

Not at all. It has to do with a theory. It is to bring 
out the common sense of vegetables compared to humans. 
Humans condemn millions of women, specially born for 
motherhood, to purposeless, joyless spinsterhood, all on ac- 
count of a prejudice. No green, brainless, commonplace 
vegetable would be guilty of such unutterable folly as that.” 

Don’t be too sweeping,” quoth Quin. In the East 
End women are still mothers from choice ; and given decent, 
healthy conditions, they would proudly raise an army to 
protect their country from her threatening foes. It is not 
their fault that fifty per cent of their offspring are sickly, 
anaemic little weeds.” 

It sounds as if your book has a serious side in spite 
of its imbecility ? ” suggested Lorraine. 

Imbecility and madness are usually full of serious- 
ness,” Dick told her — ^^far more so than commonplace 
rationalism.” 

"And do you want to revolutionize society?” 

" Oh, dear, no ; what an alarming idea ! ” 

" Then what do you want ? ” — they asked him. 

" I want to see all the superfluous unemployed spinsters 
busy, happy mothers, patriotically contributing to raise a 
splendid fighting force, for one thing, which will certainly 


238 WINDING PATHS 

be regarded as an utterly imbecile idea by a magnificently 
rational world.’’ 

“ And have you any theory about it ? ” asked Lord 
Denton. 

Nothing but the worn-out, commonplace, absurdly 
natural theories of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 
My only chance is that, being so ancient, and so absurdly 
natural, the modern world may mistake them for some- 
thing entirely new, and seize upon them with the fashion- 
able avidity for novelties.” 

‘‘ Or they may lock you up,” suggested Quin. 

In any case I’m afraid you’ll be too late,” Hal com- 
mented, with a half-grave, half -sarcastic air ; for before 
your theories can make any headway, England is likely to 
have given all her life blood to systems, and restrictions, 
and cut-and-dried conventions, utterly regardless of her 
need for a strong protecting force to maintain her existence 
at all. Taken in the aggregate, she never has bothered 
much about the primary necessity for the best possible con- 
ditions for the mothers of the future.” 

What a learned sentence, Hal,” put in Lorraine, look- 
ing amused. Quite worthy of a militant suffragette.” 

The announced suffragettes are not the only ones who 
care for England’s future,” she said. I suppose I care a 
good deal because I’m in the newspaper world, and I know 
something of what she has to contend against in the way of 
petty party spirit and the self-aggrandizing of some of her 
so-called leaders, who haven’t an ounce of true patriotism, 
and only want to shout something outrageous in a very loud 
voice, just to attract public attention.” 

‘‘ I think Bruce is right up to a certain point,” remarked 
Lord Denton. We can hardly contemplate the reinstitu- 
tion of polygamy, but it certainly ought to be the business 
of the State to see that every child born into the country is 
given the best possible conditions in which to become a good 
citizen and, if necessary, a good soldier.” 


WINDING PATHS 


239 


Isn’t there a poor law for that express purpose ? ” 
asked Lorraine. 

Don’t speak of it/’ commented Qnin sadly. Our poor 
law, like so many excellent institutions, is mostly run on a 
wrong basis. Huge sums of money are expended in pro- 
curing homes for homeless children, and the last thing that 
seems to be considered is the suitability of the home. Appli- 
cations are accepted in a perfunctory, businesslike way by 
guardians and others — and perhaps an inspector takes a 
casual glance round; but the moral aspect of the whole 
matter, as to character and habits, is mostly left to chance. 
We, who are on the spot, often have to rescue children from 
the homes the State has provided for them.” 

It is more supervision, then, that you want ? ” asked 
Lord Denton. 

It is a different sort of supervision altogether. It 
ought to be woman’s work, not man’s — women who are paid 
and encouraged and helped.” 

But that might be defying some of the precious con- 
ventions,” put in Hal with a touch of scorn — making 
women too important, don’t you know; and encouraging 
them to be something more than household ornaments. We 
can’t have that, even for the sake of the future. It would 
be too alarming. No; England will continue in her cast- 
iron rut of prejudice, until most of her soul power is dried 
up, and only the husk of a great nation is left, to follow in 
the way of other husks.” 

Then I will go to the new, young, strong nation, and 
watch her splendid rise,” quoth Dick. 

Traitor ! ” they threw at him, but he was quite imper- 
turbed. Strength and vigor are better than old tradi- 
tions and an enfeebled race; and somebody, somewhere 
on the globe, has got to listen to what I am bound to 
teach.” 

You dear old Juggins,” said Hal, when England has 
passed her zenith, and gone under to the new, strong race. 


240 


WINDING PATHS 


you will be found sitting meditating among cabbages 
and green peas, like Omar Khayyam in his rose garden. 
The rest of us will have died in the fighting line — except 
Baby, and they will put him under a glass case, and preserve 
him as one of the few fine specimens left of a decadent race 
— in spite of his brainlessness.’^ 

Are we a decadent race ? ” asked Lorraine thought- 
fully. 

Only the House of Lords and a few leading Conserva- 
tives,” said Lord Denton with flippancy. The working- 
man who has the courage to refuse to work, and the Liberal 
members who have the grit to demand salaries for upsetting 
the Constitution, led by a few eminent Ministers who de- 
light to remove their neighbor’s landmark, and relieve his 
pocket, are the splendid fellows of the grand new opening 
era of prosperity and greatness.” 

Still,” put in Quin hopefully, it is very fashionable 
to go big-game shooting nowadays, and an African lion may 
yet chew up a few of them.” 

Poor lion ! ” quoth Lorraine ; but what a fine finale 
for the king of beasts, to chew up the despoilers of kings. 
Shall we go to the drawing-room?” And she rose to lead 
the way. 

A bridge table was arranged in an alcove for Hal and 
three of the men, and Lorraine and Hermon sat over the fire 
for preference. They were far enough away from the 
players to be able to speak of them unheard, and Hermon, 
in the course of their conversation, mentioned that he saw 
something different in Hal to-night to what he had noticed 
before. 

Lorraine thought she was only very lively, but Hermon 
looked doubtful. He could not express what he seemed to 
see, but in some way her liveliness held a new note. He 
thought she had more tone and a new kind of assurance, and 
he tried to explain it to Lorraine. 

I expect she’s had a jolly afternoon,” was all Lorraine 


WINDING PATHS 


241 

said, with a smile. She has been to the Zoo with Sir 
Edwin Crathie. 

Has she ? ” significantly, and Hermon raised his eye- 
brows. Are they still friends, then? I thought she only 
knew him slightly.” 

That was at the beginning,” and Lorraine glanced at 
him with the smile deepening in her eyes. There always 
has to be a beginning — doesn’t there ? ” 

But no answering smile shone in Alymer Hermon’s 
face, rather a slight shade of anxiety as he glanced across 
the room at Hal. I should not like a sister of mine 
to have much to do with Sir Edwin Crathie,” he said 
gravely. 

^'Perhaps not, you dear old Solemn-acre,” giving his 
arm a gentle pat ; but a sister of yours would not have 
learned early to battle with the world as Hal has.” 

But surely if she is less protected than a sister of mine 
would have been, there is the greater cause for caution.” 

"There is no comparison. A sister of yours would 
always have known protection, and always rely on it, and 
if it failed her she might find herself in difficulties and 
dangers she hardly knew how to cope with. Hal faced the 
difficulties and the dangers early, and learned to be her own 
defense and protector. Some women have to, you see. It 
is necessary for them to wield weapons and armor out of 
their own strength, and be prepared to be buffeted by a 
heartless world, and not be afraid. If you had a sister, you 
would want to keep her in cotton wool, and never let any 
rough, enlightening experience come near her. If I had a 
daughter, I should like her to have the enlightening ex- 
perience early, and learn to be strong and self-dependent 
like Hal ; then I shouldn’t be afraid of her future.” 

She was silent a few moments, then added thought- 
fully : " I think it would be better for society in general 
if the girls of the leisured classes knew more about the 
world, and were better able to take care of themselves; 


242 


WINDING PATHS 


meaning, of course, with a pride like Hal’s in going 
straight because it’s the game.” 

Hermon’s eyes again strayed to Hal’s pretty head, with 
its glossy brown hair, and Lorraine continued after a 
pause : 

If I’m afraid of anything with Hal, it is that she 
might let herself get to care for some one who isn’t worth 
her little finger, or some one who is out of her reach, or 
something generally impossible. She wouldn’t care lightly ; 
and she’d get dreadfully hurt.” 

But surely she couldn’t actually fall in love with a 
man like Edwin Crathie ? ” he remonstrated. 

I wasn’t thinking of Sir Edwin specially. She goes 
about a great deal, you know, and meets many people. 
She has a strong vein of romance, too. I always feel I 
shall be very glad when she is safely anchored, if only it 
is to the right man.” 

They were interrupted then by the bridge players, who 
had finished their first rubber, and Lord Denton persuaded 
Hermon to change places with him for a time, and came 
to sit over the fire with Lorraine. Presently he too men- 
tioned Hal. 

She is the best woman bridge player I have ever 
met,” he said. She seems to be developing into something 
rather out of the ordinary. Hasn’t she grown much better 
looking ? ” 

Lorraine smiled, a slow, sweet smile. 

Alymer Hermon has just been praising Hal too,” she 
said ; I like to hear you men admire her ; it shows you 
can appreciate sterling worth as well as — well — shall we 
call it daring impropriety ? ” 

You are a little severe.” 

‘^Am I? Well, you see, I know a good many men 
pretty intimately ; and I have gleaned from various confid- 
ing moments that it is not the working woman chiefly, re- 
lying only on her own protection, who strays into the 


WINDING PATHS 


243 


murky byways and muddy corners of life. It is surpris- 
ingly often the direction of the idle, home-guarded, bored 
young lady. Plip, if it came to a choice, I believe I 
would put my money on the worker. It’s such a splendid, 
healthy, steadying thing to have a real purpose and a real 
occupation; instead of just days and weeks of idle enjoy- 
ment. And as for temptations ! Well, they abound pretty 
fully in both cases ; it isn’t the amount of temptation likely 
to be encountered that matters, so much as the quality of 
the individual armor to meet it with.” 

" Still, when it comes to being hungry and cold and 
having no money ? ” he argued. 

It doesn’t make much difference in the long run, ex- 
cept that one hopes The Man Above will surely find a 
wider forgiveness for the woman who was hungry and cold 
than for the woman who was just bored, but hadn’t the 
grit to find an aim and purpose to renew and invigor- 
ate a purposeless life. All the same, I’d like to see Hal 
safely anchored to a real good fellow. Flip, if you 
could persuade her to try, she’d make you a splendid 
wife.” 

And what in the world should I do with a splendid 
wife ? ” laughing frankly into her face — what an appalling 
possession ! Lorry, old girl, I’ve got a splendid woman 
pal, and that’s good enough for me. If I ever want a wife 
you shall have the privilege of finding me one ; but it won’t 
be until I am old and gouty, and then she had better be a 
hospital nurse, inured to irritability.” 

‘^You are quite hopeless,” shaking her head at him, 
but I don’t particularly want to lose you as a friend, un- 
less it is for Hal ; so we’ll say no more.” 

" Sensible woman ! And now I must really be off. I 
like your friends. Lorry. They’re very fresh. And of 
course Hermon is tremendous. You haven’t overdrawn 
him at all. Only do be careful. Eemember the burned 
child. A man like that ought to be made to wear a mask 


^44 


WINDING PATHS 


and hideous garments, for the protection of susceptible 
females/^ 

He would need to speak through a grating trumpet 
as well/’ 

Yes, I suppose he would. Even I can hear the attrac- 
tion in his voice. It will be splendid when he begins to 
feel his feet in the law courts. We’ll make a celebrity of 
him, shall we — just for the interest of it. But it’s to be 
only a hobby, Lorraine, no entanglements, mind ” — and he 
laughed his low, pleasant laugh. 

‘^Very well, call it a hobby, or what you like — only 
keep him in mind now. Flip. I’ve got him into an ambi- 
tious spirit that means everything, if there is enough fuel 
at the beginning to keep it alight until it is a glowing 
pile quite capable of burning gayly alone.” 

Eight you are. I like him. You fan the flame, and 
I’ll rake up the fuel. I’ll speak to Hodson about him to- 
morrow. He’s always ready to lend a hand to a promising 
junior.” 

When they had all gone, Lorraine lingered a few 
moments by her flreside. 

A hobby ! ” she breathed ; yes, why not ? Man- 
making is almost equal to man-bearing. I have no son to 
spur up the Olympian heights; but what might I not do 
for Al}Tner, if . . . if ” 

She placed her hands on the mantelshelf, and leaned 
her forehead down on them. \ 

Alymer,” she whispered, a little brokenly, I wonder 
if I ought to be ready to give you all, and ask nothing? 
Perhaps make you all the splendid man you might be, just 
for some one else, and get nothing myself but a heartache ? ” 


CHAPTEE XXV 


The winter months passed more or less uneventfully 
and pleasantly. The case in which Hermon had held his 
first brief, though in only a very secondary position, was 
rather splendidly won. An unlooked-for development in it 
roused public interest, and filled the hall with spectators. 
Lord Denton went out of curiosity, and was present when 
Hermon, as an unknown junior, made his first public 
appearance. 

He was not the only man specially interested either; 
senior counsel on both sides had its grandiloquent eye on 
the newcomer, so to speak — interested to know how he 
would acquit himself. Afterwards they congratulated him 
very warmly, and Denton went to tell Lorraine he had 
made a hit. 

He looked splendid,” he declared enthusiastically ; 
^^and he was delightfully calm and self-possessed. He’ll 
soon get another brief now. You see.” 

He did ; and the future began to look very full of prom- 
ise to this favorite of fortune. 

As Lorraine had predicted, his growing success filled 
his mind, and kept him safe from many pitfalls; while 
her sympathetic companionship satisfied him in other re- 
spects, and formed a substantial bulwark between him and 
the women who would have tried to spoil him. 

He had other women friends as well, but Lorraine felt 
they were not dangerous, by the way he talked of them. 
As long as he did not get foolishly engaged, and cripple 
his career at the very outset, as he easily might while he 

245 


246 


WINDING PATHS 


had no income to rely on, she did not fear. Lord Denton 
advised her to marry him to an heiress as soon as possible, 
but Lorraine knew better than to risk an impeding mill- 
stone of gold, and insisted he must just win his way through 
on the allowance his father gave him. 

In the meantime they were a great deal together, and 
though they seldom went to any public place alone, they 
occasionally broke their rule; and it was known, at any 
rate in theatrical circles, that Lorraine rarely went out 
with her own old set, and had grown reserved and quiet. 
Hal knew something of the absorbing friendship, but she 
still made light of it, and sparred with Hermon whenever 
she saw him — for his good.’^ 

As a matter of fact, she did not go quite so much to 
Lorraine’s as usual herself ; for many of the hours she had 
been accustomed to spend there she now spent with Sir 
Edwin Crathie. All through the winter they continued 
to take motor rides into the country; and often they went 
together to a quiet, unfashionable golf club, where they 
were both learning to overcome the intricacies and trials 
of that absorbing pastime. 

It was easy for Sir Edwin to silence curious tongues. 
He spoke of her quite frankly as his niece, and Hal more 
or less acquiesced, because it was simpler to arrange an 
afternoon’s golf, for Dudley had managed to become very 
thoroughly absorbed in Doris, and he asked no questions. 

The only two to raise any real objections were Dick 
and Alymer Hermon. Dick had to be talked round, and 
thoroughly impressed with Sir Edwin’s great age (of forty- 
eight), and though Hal did not state the actual years, she 
was perfectly correct in insisting that he was old enough 
to be her father; though she need not perhaps have said 
it in quite such a tone of ridiculing an absurd idea. 

Anyhow, Dick was pacified up to a certain point, and 
obliged to see that the new friendship did her good, keep- 
ing her cheerful and hopeful in spite of her bitter disap- 


WINDING PATHS 


247 


pointment about Dudley’s engagement, and generally 
brightening the whole of the winter routine for her. 

With Hermon it was rather different. He was less cos- 
mopolitan than Dick, and he insistently adhered to his 
first idea concerning what he would have felt had Hal been 
his sister. 

Why he should have been specially interested did not 
occur to him. Dick, of course, actually was a sort of 
brother, being much more so in a sense than many real 
brothers, as far as personal interest and protection went. 

When Hal was first left an orphan she had been a great 
deal with him, at his own home, and they had always been 
special friends both then and since. 

But Hermon was in no sense either a brother or a spe- 
cial friend. They had never done anything else but spar, 
however, good-naturedly; and Lorraine, in consequence, 
twitted him once or twice about looking grave over Hal’s 
doings. 

And Hermon had laughed, and colored a little, saying 
something about a feeling at the flat that they all had a 
sort of right in Hal, and he didn’t see what that brute 
Crathie — a Liberal into the bargain — wanted to be taking 
her about for. 

He even went so far as to say something to Hal herself 
about it; one day, when they were alone in Lorraine’s 
drawing-room, waiting for her to come in, Hal had just 
told him frankly she had played golf with Sir Edwin the 
previous day; and in a sudden burst of indignation Her- 
mon exclaimed : 

I can’t think how you can he so friendly with the man. 
Surely you know what he is? He has about as much 
principle as my foot.” 

Hal had turned round and stared at him in blank aston- 
ishment. 

Goodness gracious ! ” she exclaimed, what an out- 
burst ! What has Sir Edwin done to hurt you ? ” 


248 


WINDING PATHS 


But he stood his ground steadily. 

‘^'You know it isn’t that. If you were my sister, I 
wouldn’t let you go out with him as you do.” 

Then what a comfort for me, I’m not. And really. 
Baby, dear ! I’m much more adapted to be your mother.” 

Eot!” 

He looked at her almost fiercely for a moment, scarcely 
aware of it himself, but with a sudden, swift, unaccount- 
able resentment of the old joke. Hal, surprised again, 
backed away a little, eying him with a quizzical, roguish 
expression that made him want desperately to shake her. 

“ Grandpapa,” she murmured, with a mock, apologetic 
air, ^^you really mustn’t get so worked up at — at your 
advanced years.” 

His face relaxed suddenly into laughter. 

I don’t know whether I want to shake you or kiss you 
. . . you . . . you ” 

“ Thanks, I’ll take the shake,” she interrupted promptly. 
“ I certainly haven’t deserved such severe punishment as a 
kiss.” 

He took a step toward her, but she stood quite still and 
laughed in his face; and he could only turn away, laughing 
himself. 

Yet he was conscious that her attitude riled him. He 
was not in the least vain, but all the same it was absurd 
that Hal should persist in being the one woman who was 
not only utterly indifferent to his attractions, but seemed 
almost to scorn him for them. In some of the others it 
would not have mattered in the least — at any rate he 
thought so — ^but in Hal it was sheer nonsense. 

He liked her better than anyone, except perhaps Lor- 
raine, and he always enjoyed their sparring; but of course 
there was a limit, and she really might be seriously friendly 
sometimes ; and anyhow he hated Sir Edwin Crathie. 

While he thought all this more or less vaguely, Hal 
watched him with undisguised amusement. 


WINDING PATHS 


249 


Don’t think so hard,” she said ; it spoils the line of 
yonr profile.” 

Hang my profile ! ” he exclaimed, almost coarsely. 

Can’t you be serious for five minutes, you’re always 
so — so ” 

Not at all. I’m perfectly serious. A frown doesn’t 
suit you one little bit. Imagine a scowl on one of Raphael’s 
cherubim.” 

I don’t want to imagine anything so silly, and I’m not 
in the least like a cherub. It would be more sensible if you 
want to do some wise imagining, to think of Sir Edwin 
Crathie, and imagine yourself in the devil’s clutches.” 

But I’ve not the smallest wish to be in Sir Edwin’s 
clutches, so why should I try to imagine it? . . . And 
you’re not at all polite, are you ? ” 

I’m honest anyway ; and I’ll warrant that’s more than 
he can rise to.” 

But really, dear Alymer,” reverting again to the mock- 
ing tone, at what period of your friendship with him have 
you had occasion to find him out ? ” 

Your sarcasm won’t frighten me. A man knows more 
about this sort of thing than a girl. Of course he is all right 
in an ordinary way, but you are so often with him. . . . 
Considering his political career, it is positively unpatriotic 
of you to be such close friends.” 

“ Such nonsense ! Do you want me to be as bigoted 
and narrow-minded as those Conservatives who are con- 
tinually holding the party back, because they are quite in- 
capable of realizing there are two sides to a question? I 
don’t hold the same views as Sir Edwin at all. I’m not 
likely to, being on the staff of the Morning Mail; but that 
isn’t any reason why I should object to him as a friend.” 

No; but his reputation might be.” 

Hal stamped her foot. 

Oh, don’t stand there and talk about a man’s reputa- 
tion in that superior, self-satisfied fashion. What is it to 


250 WINDING PATHS 

you anyhow? My friendship can’t possibly be any concern 
of yours.” 

She moved away with a restless, ruffled manner, and 
threw back at him : 

Of course I’m awfully grateful to you for being so 
interested in my welfare, but your concern is a little mis- 
placed. I am quite capable of taking car^ of myself, and 
have been for at least seven years.” 

He looked hurt, and about to retort, but at that moment 
Lorraine’s latchkey sounded in the door, and Hal went out 
into the hall to meet her. 

I’m so glad you’ve come,” she remarked, as they re- 
entered together. “ Baby is in one of his insufferable, 
superior moods, and is lecturing me on my friendship with 
Sir Edwin. And all because I casually mentioned I had 
had a game of golf with him.” 

Lorraine looked a little surprised, but she only remarked 
laughingly : 

It’s a little fad of his to lecture. I rather like it ; but 
I wonder he had the temerity to lecture you.” 

Unfortunately, lecturing doesn’t instill common sense,” 
put in Hermon, and it only requires common sense to un- 
derstand Sir Edwin Crathie isn’t very likely to prove a 
satisfactory friend.” 

You mean it only requires dense, narrow-minded self- 
satisfaction. Eeally> Baby, if you are so good to look at, 
there is surely a limit even to your permissible airs and 
graces ” ; and Hal tossed her head. 

Now come, you two,” interposed Lorraine ; I don’t 
want quarreling over my tea. Give her some of that sticky 
pink-and-white cake, Alymer, and have some yourself, and 
you will soon both grow amiable again.” 

He hasn’t got his bib,” Hal snapped, and he knows 
his mother told him he was to have bread and butter first. 
You are not to spoil him. Lorry. Spoiled children are 
odious.” 


WINDING PATHS 


251 


‘‘ So are conceited women,” he retorted. IPs only 
that new hat that is making you so pleased with yourself.” 

IPs a dear hat,” she commented. You have to pin a 
curl on with it, else there’s a gap. I’m in mortal dread I 
shall lose the curl, or find it hanging down my back.” 

No more was said on the subject of Sir Edwin, but when 
Hal was about to leave, and found that Hermon was staying 
on, she pursed up her lips with an air of sanctimonious dis- 
approval and said: 

I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I’m not at 
all sure Mr. Hermon is quite a nice friend for you, Lor- 
raine. His conversation is neither elevating nor improving, 
and I hardly like to go off now and leave you alone with 
him.” 

Don’t worry,” Lorraine laughed. " He is improving 
every day under my tuition. I hope you can say as much 
for Sir Edwin.” 

I can,” she answered frankly. He has learned quite 
a lot since I took him in hand ; especially about women and 
the vote. He has positively made the discovery that they 
don’t all want it just for notoriety, and novelty; but I’m 
afraid he won’t succeed in convincing the other dense old 
gentlemen in the Cabinet. Good-by ! ” 

Be circumspect, 0 Youth and Beauty. And don’t let 
him overeat himself. Lorry,” she finished, as she departed. 


17 


CHAPTER XXVI 


When Hermon was finding fault with HaPs friendship 
for Sir Edwin Crathie, it had not apparently occurred to 
him that his own friends and relations were likely enough 
to take precisely the same view of his friendship with Lor- 
raine Vivian. He did not want to think it, any more than 
Hal had done, and therefore he conveniently ignored the 
probability, and indulged in the reflection that anyhow they 
were never likely to hear of it. 

Yet it was through them, and their ill-chosen mode of 
interference, that the first trouble arose, when that quiet, 
peaceful winter was over, and the spring arrived with 
renewing and vigor, and with new happenings in other 
besides the natural world. 

It was as though the one gladsome winter of pleasant 
companionship and firesides was given to them all — Dudley 
and Hal, Ethel and Basil, Lorraine and Hermon — ^before 
the wider issues of the future stepped in and claimed their 
toll of sorrow before they gave the deeper joys. 

Alymer Hermon’s father and mother were at this time 
living in a charming house at Sevenoaks, whither he went 
at least once a week to see them. 

His father had become more or less of a recluse, enjoy- 
ing a quiet old age with his books ; but his mother was an 
energetic, bigoted lady of the old school, who had allowed 
much natural kindliness to become absorbed in her devotion 
to church precepts and church works. 

When it first reached her ears that her only son, of 
252 


WINDING PATHS 


253 


boundless hopes and dreams, was continually with the ac- 
tress, Lorraine Vivian, she was horrified beyond words. 

Undoubtedly the story had been much magnified and 
embroidered, and accepted as a scandalous liaison or en- 
tanglement without any inquiry. To make matters worse, 
Mrs. Hermon belonged so thoroughly to the old school that 
she could not even distinguish between a clever celebrated 
actress and a chorus girl. 

The stage, to her, was a synonym which included all 
things theatrical in one comprehensive ban of immorality 
and vice, with degrees, of course, but in no case without 
deserving censure from the eminently respectable, well- 
born British matron. She could not have been more upset 
had the heroine of the story been the under housemaid ; and 
indeed she placed actresses and housemaids in much the 
same category. 

Of course the friendship must be stopped, and stopped 
instantly. What a mercy of mercies she had discovered it 
so soon, and that now it might be nipped in the bud. Just 
at the very outset of his career, too, which had so aston- 
ishingly developed of late, and caused her such proud 
delight. 

That that surprising development, both in the career 
and the beloved son, might have anything to do with this 
dreadful entanglement was not to be thought of for a 
moment; and when AlymePs father ventured to suggest 
thoughtfully and a little wonderingly that the friendship 
had certainly not harmed the boy, she turned on him with 
bitterness, ending up with the dictum that men were all 
alike when there was a woman in the case, and could not 
possibly form an unbiased opinion. 

After which, she went off to church to a week-day serv- 
ice, partly to pray for guidance in a matter in which she 
had already firmly decided what line to take, and partly 
to unburden her mind to her pet clergyman. Of course 
she must speak to Alymer that very evening. How 


254 


WINDING PATHS 


fortunate that it was one of the nights he almost always 
came to Sevenoaks. 

If only he had lived at home it would never have hap- 
pened. It was all that hateful little flat where he lived 
with Bruce and St. Quintin. She ought never to have 
given way so easily. If his father had docked his allow- 
ance, in order to compel him to live at home, he would soon 
have got used to the daily train journey, and it would have 
been far better for him. 

Now, of course, he was not likely to hear of it; and 
since he was making such good headway in his profession, 
it certainly did seem a pity to risk upsetting him. But no 
doubt a little quiet talk would convince him of the un- 
wisdom of allowing his name to be associated with an ac- 
tress just now; and once more she congratulated herself 
that she had heard in time. 

The Eev. Hetherington listened to her story with all 
the sympathetic horror she could wish, and she felt buoyed 
up in her adamantine decision, although she still harped 
on the intention of praying for guidance. 

The Eev. Hetherington, of morbid and woeful counte- 
nance, was one who looked across a world glorious with 
spring sunshine, as if he saw nothing but the earwigs, and 
black beetles, and creepy, crawly things of existence, and 
he promised readily to pray also ; and perhaps God smiled 
the smile He keeps for the good people who so often ask 
to be guided by His Will, when they have long before de- 
cided exactly what that Will shall be. 

The pastor accompanied his parishioner to her door, 
walking slowly with her through a garden bursting into a 
joyous splendor of crocuses, and snowdrops, and promise 
of laughing daffodils in warm corners; and together they 
lamented the terrible temptations of wicked sirens that 
beset the paths of splendid young men in the world. 

‘^Not that he isn’t a good, affectionate son,” she fin- 
ished, but he has always been made so much of — which ia 


WINDING PATHS 


255 


not in the least surprising, and no doubt he has grown 
lax. Still, he might have remembered how proud a name 
he bore, and, at least, have drawn the line at a frivolous, 
painted actress. His father says she is very clever and 
quite well known, but even he cannot deny she probably 
paints her face; and surely that is enough to show what 
her mind is ! How Alymer could endure it, I don’t know. 
He has been used to such perfect ladies all his life, and 
the mere sight of paint should disgust him.” 

Of course, of course,” murmured the mournful par- 
son, who had great hopes of a big subscription for his 
Young Women’s Bible Class, and was in two minds as to 
whether to regard the present moment as auspicious, and 
introduce the need of educating all young women in high 
and holy thoughts; or whether it was wiser to wait until 
his companion were in a less perturbed frame of mind. 

And the crocuses nodded and laughed, holding up their 
little yellow staves gayly to the sunshine, and shouting to 
each other that it was spring, clamoring to make the most 
of their great day, before the flowers came in battalions to 
crowd them out of sight and mind. 

And the gentle little snowdrops whispered secrets to 
each other, which only themselves could hear, about warmth 
and sunshine and the beauty of the new spring world — 
too old in the wisdom of nature to pay any heed to the 
two humans who would rather have had a world all maxims 
and rules, and rigid straight lines from which no gladsome 
young hearts ever strayed. 

Finally the mournful clergyman went away without 
asking for his subscription, having made mental decision 
that their would be far more trouble to come over the 
painted woman, and a yet more propitious occasion was 
likely to arise. 

And Alymer’s mother went into the house with set, 
severe lips; and pulled down all the blinds that were let- 
ting ill sunlight, for fear some of the carpets got spoiled. 


256 


WINDING PATHS 


She did not, however, venture into the library, where 
her husband sat in a large bow window reading, with sun- 
light flooding all round him, and sunshine in his quiet eyes, 
and the sunshine of a great man’s thoughts Ailing his 
mind. 

He was too much of a philosopher to worry about his 
son, and, moreover, he knew Alymer well, and had great 
faith in his good sense; but he realized a mother would 
take fright more quickly, and that it was as well to let her 
have her talk with the boy, and comfort herself with the 
belief that she had saved him. As long as she did not 
shut out his library sunlight, nor bring her pet clergy- 
man into his sanctum, he found it easy to balance her 
sterling companionable qualities against certain others 
of a trying nature, and go serenely on his philosophical 
way. 

Undoubtedly Alymer was a well-selected mixture of 
both parents. To his mother he owed his fine features 
and his power of resolve when he chose to exert it ; and to 
his father his splendid stature, his quiet little humors, 
and the old-fashioned, courtly protectiveness that had so 
quickly won Lorraine’s heart. 

Yet it was a mixture that might have borne no prac- 
tical results if left to itself, but rather a retarding. 

As Lorraine had so clearly seen, the spur of ambition, 
and a resolute determination to succeed in other walks 
than that of the casual, charming, petted favorite of for- 
tune, were indispensable to bring his traits into a harmony 
with each other that would achieve. 

It was to this end that she had given him of her best 
encouragement and help; too old and too wise not to have 
seen that whatever her own personal feelings toward him, 
it was extremely probable that she had helped him toward 
realizing his highest promise, for some one else to reap the 
deepest joy of it. 

Well, at any rate she had had the interest and the 


WINDING PATHS 


257 


companionship, and these had not been small things. He 
had come into her life just when it was wearying of tri- 
umph and adulation; when lovely frocks and jewels, and 
hosts of admirers — the very things she had craved for a 
few years earlier — ^had commenced to pall in the light of 
the little real satisfaction to be won from them. With 
some women perhaps they never palled. Perhaps each 
fresh conquest renewed them, and each fresh triumph 
invigorated. 

In Lorraine’s complex character, with the love of 
success was blended a love of the deeper and richer 
things of life. She was of those to whom, at times, wide 
spaces, and fresh breezes, and the big, sweeping, elemental 
things call loudly, above the noise of the world of fashion ; 
and she knew what it was to be filled with an aching 
nausea of all she had practically sold her soul to win, and 
a yearning nostalgia for something that might satisfy the 
finer instincts of her nature. 

And in a measure her interest in Hermon had filled 
the void. Whatever her feeling had been in the beginning, 
it had undoubtedly merged now into a definite purpose for 
his good, from which she meant to eliminate — if the time 
came when he wanted to be free of her — any claim her 
heart might clamor to assert. 

Her dealings with him were, for the time being, on a 
par with the generous unselfishness she had shown toward 
her mother. For both of them she found the courage and 
resolution to thrust herself in the background and give 
of her best as the hour required. 

If the friendship had been permitted to develop quietly 
along these lines, a future day might have witnessed Lor- 
raine quite naturally outgrowing her infatuation, and 
happily satisfied with the result of her unwearying interest 
and effort; while Hermon, from his proud pinnacle of 
success, would still have felt her his best friend. 

But at the critical moment the blundering, disturbing 


258 


WINDING PATHS 


hand was permitted to jar the harmony of the strings and 
spoil the melody. To what end? . . . Who knows? . . . 
Perhaps to some unseen, mysterious widening, and deep- 
ening, and learning necessary to the onward march of 
Humanity toward its goal of Perfection. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


Alymer knew directly he entered the house, and saw 
his mother, that something had upset her, but he did not 
associate it with Lorraine, and kissed her with his usual 
warm affection. 

It was not until after dinner, when they were alone in 
the drawing-room, that the subject was broached, and then, 
with very little preliminary, Mrs. Hermon — bending Di- 
vine Guidance to her own will — made a merciless attack on 
^^the painted woman.” 

It was no doubt the most unwise course of action con- 
ceivable; but Mrs. Hermon, with her quiet and philo- 
sophical husband, and her only son, had led a sheltered, 
smoothly flowing married life, after a yet more sheltered 
girlhood, far removed from the passionate upheavals of 
society, and she had neither practical worldly knowledge 
nor experience to aid her. 

She told him the story that had reached her ears 
through the jealousy of a sister, whose only son was very 
plain, and a scapegrace, and who had been fiendishly glad 
to have an opportunity to cast a slur upon the doings of 
the successful, handsome, steady young barrister. 

Douglas says he is always with her,” had been her 
sister’s conclusion — and that everyone is talking about 
it, and there is a dreadful lot of scandal. I thought it 
was only kind to tell you, as if he goes on in the same way 
he will certainly ruin his career.” 

Then had come the parting shot. 

We all think so xnuch of Alymer, that I would not 
259 


260 


WINDING PATHS 


believe such a story of him without proof. Douglas said 
he usually went to her flat in Chelsea about flve, when he 
leaves Chambers, and I went twice to see if he came; and 
on each occasion he strode along, and swung into the build- 
ing almost as if he lived there.” 

Mrs. Hermon did not at flrst tell her son the source of 
her information, and he did not ask her. Neither, some- 
what to her surprise, did he attempt to exculpate himself, 
nor to make any denial. 

He stood upon the hearth with that straight, strong 
look he had, when all his faculties were acute, and heard her 
through to the end. Then she said in a hurt voice : 

“ You don’t deny it, Alymer. I have been hoping you 
went to the flat on business, and there was some mistake.” 

I deny everything that you have implied against Miss 
Vivian. The story of the friendship is true.” 

His quiet self-possession seemed to disconcert her a 
little. She was prepared for indignant denial, or angry 
remonstrance even; but this calm self-possession was some- 
thing almost new to her. True, he had always been calm 
and philosophical, like his father; but this was something 
deeper and stronger than she had yet known in him. 

The fact is, mother,” he went on after a pause, you 
have run away with a totally wrong idea of Miss Vivian. 
If she were the sort of actress you picture, you might per- 
haps be anxious ; but all the same I think you might have 
given me credit for rather better taste.” 

My dear, an actress is an actress — and everyone knows 
what that is ; and the mere fact of her calling, or whatever 
you like to name it, is sufficient to seriously hurt your 
position.” 

He smiled a little. 

I dispute the dictum that everyone knows what an 
actress is, in the sweeping sense you mean. I do not think 
you know, for one. I shall have to try and persuade Miss 
Vivian to come and see you.” 


WINDING PATHS 


261 


Indeed I hope you will do no such thing.” 

Again he smiled. 

In any case I should not succeed. She is very proud, 
and would resent patronage even more than you.” 

Mrs. Hermon gave a significant sniff of incredulity, but 
she only said : 

Well, Alymer dear, you will give me a promise not to 
see her any more — won’t you ? ” 

“ I can’t do that, mother.” 

^^Why not?” 

It is out of the question. For one thing, I owe too 
much to Miss Vivian; and for another, I am too fond of 
her.” 

All the more reason you should try to break off the 
friendship at once, before she has succeeded in any of her 
schemes to entangle you.” 

She has no schemes to entangle me, as you put it. 
She has been a splendid friend. I owe my first brief to her, 
and a good deal else besides.” 

Well, and no doubt you have already given her a good 
deal in return. Quite as much as she deserves. There is no 
necessity for you to ruin your whole career, just because 
she happens to like being seen out with you.” 

There was a silence, in which Alymer seemed to be 
cogitating how best to disarm his mother’s fears; and also 
to be reminding himself of her natural ignorance on theat- 
rical matters, and his own need to be patient therefore. 
At last he said quietly : 

Miss Vivian only wants to help me in my profession ; 
and I can only tell you again she has been a splendid friend 
to me. Aunt Edith has told you a great deal of nonsense. 
She has always been glad to pick holes in me if she could. 
Most of it is lies, and you must take my word for it. It is 
useless to discuss the matter. I am sorry you have been 
so worried, but I don’t know how to make you understand.” 

‘^1 understand far better than you think; and I know 


262 


WINDING PATHS 


you ought to end the friendship at once. I want you to 
do so.” 

"It is out of the question. But you need not worry. 
You must just forget. No . . . ” as she attempted further 
remonstrance ; " donT go on. I cannot listen to any more 
against Miss Vivian. I think I will go and smoke a pipe 
with the pater. Shall you come and sit with us ? ” And a 
certain expression in his eyes that reminded her of his 
father in his most decisive moods told her he meant to say 
no more. She rose at once. 

She had failed, and she knew it, but she had not the 
smallest intention of giving in. She had started on the 
wrong tack, that was all. Of course the boy was too chival- 
rous to go back on a friend, particularly as he believed he 
was under some obligation to her. Her plan of mercilessly 
tearing the lady to pieces had not been a good one, but she 
would think of something else, and save him in spite of 
himself. 

And comforting herself with this reflection, she allowed 
the subject to drop, and went with him to the library. Her 
next plan should be a more sure one. She would work in 
secret with an a^ent to help her, who could see the enormity 
of the danger, and appreciate more thoroughly than his 
father the urgent need to interfere. She had already a 
vague plan in her head that she believed an excellent one, 
and which she could put into execution immediately. 

It was an old-fashioned, time-worn plan, but Mrs. 
Hermon was a woman of old-fashioned ideas, and she did 
not know but that she was the originator. She had not the 
least idea that quite the commonplace course of action in 
these questions was to send a secret emissary to the lady, to 
reason with her, or plead with her, or bribe her, according 
to her status, on behalf of the innocent young victim of her 
charms. The great thing, she imagined, was to find a suit- 
able agent. 

Now, besides the sister who was jealous, she had a 


WINDING PATHS 


bachelor brother of a certain well-known stamp. A good- 
looking, aristocratic, well-preserved man of independent 
means, and though over sixty years of age, still a gallant, 
with not much in his handsome head beyond a pathetic 
desire to continue to captivate, and a belief that he was as 
invincible as ever. 

Very shady stories had more than once been written 
down to his account, but he had the wit always to rise above 
them and sail serenely on to do more mischief. 

His sister rightly surmised that he would have consid- 
erable knowledge concerning actresses and the theatrical 
world, and without troubling to consult her husband, she 
took him into her confidence and unburdened all her 
trouble. 

Phew ! ” murmured the elderly beau, so the young 
scamp has got entangled with an actress, has he? Shock- 
ing! . . . shocking! . . . But don’t worry, Ailsa; we’ll 
soon square the lady one way or another. Do you — er — 
happen to know if she is of the nature one can offer money 
to?” 

I think not. Alymer insists she is a lady in the real 
sense ; though, if so, why did she go on the stage ? ” 

Love of excitement, I dare say. Is she, by any chance, 
a chorus girl ? ” 

No, not exactly ; though really I fail to see any differ- 
ence in degree between one actress and another. They are 
all on the stage ; and no doubt they all paint their faces and 
snare good-looking young men.” 

No doubt,” agreed the man, who had more than once 
made it his business to snare an unsuspecting, trusting 
girl. 

And you will go to see her, and persuade her to drop 
him ; won’t you, Percy ? It is no use talking to his father ; 
he does not see the matter in a serious enough light. He 
believes Alymer will soon tire of her. So he may, but in 
the meantime she may irredeemably injure his career. Of 


264 


WINDING PATHS 


course^ if it is a question of money we will find it all right ; 
but whatever it is, try to cut the whole matter off entirely. 
Make love to her yourself, Percy, if that is what she wants 
— ^you know you have always been rather good at that sort 
of thing ; and she smiled at her own astonishing worldly 
wisdom, feeling almost rakish at having framed such a 
sentence. 

Ah ! ” with a deprecatory shake of his head, that did 
not, however, hide a certain fitful gleam in his eyes, I 
am getting too old for those kinds of pranks now, but I will 
do my best to — er — For a moment he wondered whether 
he meant to do his best to make love to the actress himself, 
or try to rescue Alymer, and finally finished : follow out 
your wishes and suggestions.” 

" I knew you would, Percy. It was a good idea of mine 
to ask you. Don’t mince matters at all, will you? Make 
her thoroughly understand she has got to give him up under 
any circumstances, or we shall, well — er — take proceedings 
if it is possible. Anyhow, Alymer must be guarded against 
himself, and his father is too unpractical to help, so we 
must do it alone.” 

I quite agree. Alymer is an exceptionally fine fellow, 
with an exceptionally promising future; and if he cannot 
see for himself how foolish a scandal would be just at the 
outset, we must, as you say, save him on our own account. 
I am fond of Alymer, very fond, and very proud, and I 
will do all in my power over the matter. What is the 
actress’s name, did you say ? ” 

^^I don’t think I mentioned it; but Edith told me in 
her letter. I will look for it.” 

She went to a writing table, and returned with the 
epistle in her hand, glancing through it until she came to 
the required information, when, without looking up, she 
read, Lorraine Vivian.” 

At the same time a sudden, curious, startled expression 
crossed the faded eyes of the white-haired gallant, and he 


WINDING PATHS 265 

turned quickly aside, stroking his mustache with a slightly 
nervous air. 

Eh ? Do you mean the well-known celebrity ? ” he 
asked. Surely not Miss Vivian of the Queen^s Theater? ” 

I suppose so. I never go to the theater, so I never 
hear these names. Edith certainly writes as if she were well 
known. 

Does it make any difference ? she asked, as he was 
silent. Don’t you want to go ? If you don’t I must find 
some one else ; that is all.” 

“ But certainly I will go. I was only a little surprised. 
She must be a good deal older that Alymer.” 

“ That only makes it worse. No doubt she is no longer 
pretty enough for older men, so she has to set her cap at 
young ones, who are flattered by her attention. I certainly 
thought Alymer had more sense — but there — one never 
knows, and these women are very clever, I believe.” 

D d — I mean — extraordinarily clever ; but we can 

be clever too, and I dare say we can contrive to outwit her.” 

A little later he went away to catch a train back to 
town, leaving his sister reassured and hopeful; but as he 
went he repeated to himself in a low, incredulous voice: 

Lorraine Vivian . . . Lorraine Viviam . . . How strange 
that I should be asked to undertake a mission that will cause 
us to meet again. I wonder if you will recognize me 
quickly ? I flatter myself, even white hair has not destroyed 
my claims to a woman’s favor.” 


CHAPTEK XXVIII 


Lorraine had not the smallest idea of what was com- 
ing upon her. She knew perfectly well herself that it 
would be most unwise for a rising young barrister to get 
talked about with an actress known to have a husband liv- 
ing, and it had made her a great deal more cautious than 
she would otherwise have bothered to be. 

Moreover, Alymer, seeing nothing to gain by making 
known his mother’s fears, preferred not to annoy her with 
any account of them. To say that he was wholly unaffected 
by it, however, would be to say too much. He was, in- 
deed, exceedingly and bitterly annoyed with his interfering 
aunt, who had obviously tried to make trouble for some 
petty motive of jealousy. He only hoped that his mother 
would take her line from him and his father, and main- 
tain a dignified front, unmoved by his aunt’s tale-bearing 
gossip. 

He was slightly affected in another way also. It was 
almost the first time he had seriously considered what the 
world might say if their great friendship was known. He 
knew it well enough to believe it would be in haste to put 
the worst construction on it, though their own immediate 
friends might stand by them loyally. 

It caused him to consider that construction in a light 
he had hitherto been protected from by circumstances, for 
it thrust forward an aspect they had successfully kept in 
the background. It made him ask the question, what was 
he prepared to do if his aunt continued her persecution, 
and some sort of change had to be made in the friendly, 
delightful intercourse ? 


266 


WINDING PATHS 


267 


He wondered a good deal what Lorraine’s own attitude 
would be. Would she, perhaps, now that she had given 
him his start, cut all the friendship off for his good, and 
return to her old friends and admirers? He shrank from 
the contemplation of such a solution undisguisedly, and 
meant to continue their pleasant relations if possible. 

He certainly wished no change whatever, if it could 
be avoided. Lorraine meant everything to him just then, 
and he could not but know how much his companionship 
and affection had come to mean to her. 

So the next day he paid his customary visit, and talked 
as usual of many things, but said no word of what had 
passed the previous night. 

Lorraine’s room was full of violets and snowdrops, 
cushions of them on every side, in lovely array. He moved 
about looking at them, and she watched him from a low 
chair by the fire, clad in some new spring gown of an ex- 
quisite mauve shade, that seemed to tone with the violet- 
bedecked room. 

It gave her dark eyes something of a violet tint, and 
her hands looked as white and delicate as the snowdrops. 
Moving about from mass to mass of blossoms, Alymer, 
glancing at her, thought she looked younger and lovelier 
than ever. 

You have a spring air about you,” he said, and all 
the room seems full of spring. There is something about 
it all I like better than the lilies and roses and malmaisons 
usually making a display.” 

I sent them all to the dining room,” she told him. 

Every spring is such a beautiful new thing, it has to be 
allowed to reign supreme for a little while in here. It 
gives me rather an ache to see them, all the same after 
a pause — they make me dream of the smell of the new 
woodland, that delicious, damp, earthy smell of spring, and 
all the young, joyful bursting of buds and springing of 
seeds and the mating birds, and the showers that make the 
18 


268 


WINDING PATHS 


leaves glisten. I feel as if I should like to tramp out across 
the country in such a shower, and get healthily wet, and be 
a real bit of the spring for just one week.” 

''Why don’t you go? You are not looking very well, 
and the country air would probably do you no end of good.” 

" I don’t want to go alone, and I do not know who I 
could take. Hal is not able to leave, and mother would 
merely be bored to tears, and Flip Denton is at Monte 
Carlo. There is no one really but you and Hal and Flip 
who would fit in with my spring mood. Anyone else 
would strike a discordant note.” 

" I wish I could come.” 

The wish escaped him almost involuntarily, as, with 
the sight of the spring flowers and the spring scent in his 
nostrils, he too felt the call of the fresh, wild, vigorous 
things in his blood. 

Lorraine looked at him with a curious expression on her 
face. Why, she wondered, did he not seriously contem- 
plate coming? Why did he so steadily pursue, as far as 
she was concerned, his serene and passionless path? She 
believed he cared more for her than for anyone else ; and, 
if so, was it possible the ache sometimes in her heart for a 
closer bond and resolutely strangled, had no counterpart 
in his hot, vigorous youth? 

Then he looked suddenly into her eyes, as if to see 
whether she had heard his wish, and what she thought of 
it. And as their gaze met, she saw the blood mantle to his 
face, and a half-shamed expression creep into it, as if 
he had been discovered in a thought that should never 
have been permitted. 

He looked away again to the flowers, and Lorraine 
turned her eyes to the fire, with a swift wonder in her 
mind. She felt that something had transpired since they 
last parted — something she did not know of, and that was 
entirely different to anything that had crossed their path 
before. Some new thought had been put into his mind. 


WINDING PATHS 


269 


Something that made him give her that half-shy, half- 
wondering look. 

She gazed hard at the fire, and her pulses began to beat 
a little fitfully. She knew instinctively that something 
had come suddenly into being between them, which neither 
might name, and which was the oldest thing in the world. 

And then across her mind, as once before, swept with 
swift pitilessness a vision of what might have been; of 
what life might have held for her had she been among 
the blessed — an aching, tearing longing for a youthful 
hour she had irretrievably missed. She drew her hand 
across her eyes, ignoring his presence, shutting him out, 
seeing only the heavenly Joy she had missed. 

Supposing such a moment had come to her with such 
a man, when she, like him, was in the first flush of youth 
and beauty; of dreams and hopes, and rich believing. 
What a knight for a lovely maid ! What a lover to dream 
of bashfully and fearfully; and with all her soul one 
thought of him. 

Prom her vantage ground of much doing and much 
knowing, she looked back yearningly to the bloom and 
springtide of life, when all splendid things are possible, 
and any day may bring the splendid knight. 

And instead had come . . . ah, what? 

Well ! For her it had been the wolf in sheep’s cloth- 
ing, who, besides all he had robbed her of, had taken all 
her chance of the one great awakening to blinding joy. 
Now she could only look upon the joy from afar, seeing 
a barrier of fateful years, and, like a drawn sword at the 
gate of her dream, the stern, unyielding decree that has 
echoed unchanged down the long centuries : Thou shalt 
not ” 

Al3mier was silent, too, standing with the thoughtful 
expression on his face that was so attractive, probing a 
little nervously into that wish he had expressed, and won- 
dering a little uncertainly just what it meant. 


270 


WINDING PATHS 


Then Lorraine got up. 

You are grave, mon ami; and it is the springtime. 
Grave thoughts are for the autumn of life — recklessness 
better becomes the joyful spring.” 

Are you ever reckless nowadays ? ” he asked, watch- 
ing her graceful movements as she bent down and buried 
her face in a cushion of violets. 

I am when I smell violets. They may be modest and 
retiring little flowers, but they hold spring rapture and 
spring lavishness and spring desiring in their scent all the 
same.” 

Then you are reckless now ? ” 

What was it made him dally thus upon dangerous 
ground? What was it made him speak to Lorraine as he 
had never spoken before, on the very day after his mother’s 
admonition? Why did his immense height and strength 
and the young vigor in his blood suddenly blot out the 
years that lay between them, and sweep into his soul, the 
knowledge of his masculinity and might, which of its own 
nature possessively dominated her femininity? 

They seemed all at once to have strayed into an atmos- 
phere, born of that warning admonition, and of their talk, 
of the reckless, creative spring; and because, in spite of 
his youth, he was very much a man, and she was a dan- 
gerously attractive woman, his pulses leaped fitfully and 
eagerly wfith the swift ache that has existed ever since God 
made man and woman. 

Without looking up, Lorraine felt this. The very air 
about them seemed charged with it, and she, too, under 
some spell of springtime, moved into closer proximity to 
the splendid knight. She brushed against his arm uncon- 
sciously; and looking down on the top of her dark head, 
he said half shyly: 

^^You somehow seem such a little thing to-day, Lor- 
raine. I feel as if I could pick you up, as one does a small 
child.” 


\YI]SrDmG PATHS 


271 


Please don’t/’ witli a low laugh — just think of xny 
dignity.” 

^^But you are not dignified to-day. You seem as 
young and light-hearted as the springtime. I feel as if 
I must be years older than you.” 

She raised her face suddenly, with yearning eyes : 

Oh, let us emulate the spring this once — let us both 
be young and foolish and real, and pretend there isn’t 
anyone else in the world.” 

For one second he looked at her with wondering in- 
credulity, then, with a tender little laugh he suddenly bent 
down and folded his arms round her till she seemed to 
vanish altogether into his embrace, and kissed her on the 
lips. 

The scent of the violets has intoxicated us,” he said, 
and kissed her again. 

Then he gentljr pushed her into her big, deep chair. 

" I’m going now. I only ran in to see how you were 
after that bad headache. You must bring the lilies and 
malmaisons back to-morrow, or I shall be offending so 
grievously you will forbid me the flat. Good-by ! ” And 
without another word he went away out of the room. 

Lorraine sat quite still, and let the spell wrap her round 
for the precious moments that she could yet hold it. Of 
course it could not stay. In an hour at most she would 
be her old, brain-weary self again, with the best of her 
youth behind her ; while he was still there on the threshold, 
young and strong and free. But even this one short hour 
was good. Life had not given her many such. She would 
fence it round with silence, and solitude, and the scent of 
violets. 

Alymer went out into the streets wondering at himself 
vaguely, and yet with a pleasant glow of memory. He 
felt it bewildering that Lorraine Vivian, whose favors were 
so eagerly sought by men, should have allowed him to kiss 
her. 


272 


WINDING PATHS 


It seemed something apart altogether from her gener- 
ous friendship and helpful influence. It made him pleased 
with himself, and filled his mind with a yet greater tender- 
ness to her. He knew so much now of her early dif- 
ficulties and following troubles — of the frivolous, un- 
principled mother, and the long, uphill fight. She had 
honored him with her confidence in spite of his youth, 
and now 

He quickened his steps, and his pulses leaped yet moro 
fitfully. Spring was in the air and in his blood, and one 
of the recognized beauties of London had been gracious to 
him beyond all dreaming. 

It was enough for the present hour. Why ask any 
inconvenient questions and spoil it all? Let the future 
look after itself. 

Only one thought for a moment cast a little shadow 
upon his ardor. It crossed his mind, for no accountable 
reason, to wonder what Hal would think. He was a little 
afraid she would strongly disapprove. 

But, after all, if she did, what matter? He owed 
nothing to Hal, and there was no reason why her views 
should disturb him in the least. Of course it did not . . . 
and yet . . . HaPs good opinion was a thing worth hav- 
ing; and, in short, he hoped she would not know. 

It was not that she was strait-laced. She was too 
near the heart of humanity through her daily toil to be 
other than a generous judge; but she was also a creature 
of ideals for herself and for those who would be among 
her best friends; and she would have known unerringly 
that no great, consuming love had drowned his reason and 
filled his senses. 

It was for that she would have judged him; and for 
that he would have stood before her direct gaze ashamed. 
One might be gay and irresponsible and merry, but there 
were just one or two things which must not be allowed 
in that category. Instinctively, he knew that in Hal’s 


WINDING PATHS 


273 


view he would have transgressed — not because he felt too 
much, but because he felt too little to be justified. 

But why need she know? Why need anyone know? 

He did not think his mother would follow up any 
further the story she had been told, and he would see his 
aunt about it personally. It was better to have it out with 
her, lest she took upon herself to interview Lorraine, and 
make more trouble still. 

He ran up the stairs to the fiat, two steps at a time; 
and scrambled to get changed for the dinner to which he 
was going, still feeling a pulsing thrill that, among all 
men, he was Lorraine Vivian’s chosen friend. 

In another fiat — a bachelor one in Eyder Street — an 
elderly beau, likewise dressed for a dinner party, though 
with the utmost care and precision, instead of a scramble. 
And to himself he said, as he took a long, last look at the 
image he loved: 

I must go to-morrow morning and settle this little 
matter about Alymer. No doubt Lorraine will be amazed 
to see how well-preserved I am. She cannot have any real 
feeling for such a boy, and, after all, a good-looking man 
of the world ” 

He smiled to himself as over a thought that pleased 
him, and rang for his servant to go out and hail a taxi. 


CHAPTEE XXIX 


It was not difficult for Alymer to persuade himself that 
a little diplomacy on his part would probably assuage his 
aunt’s wish to upset his friendship, and incidentally 'allay 
his mother’s fears; but, as it happened no one having his 
welfare so exceedingly at heart over this matter with the 
actress was in any degree as amenable or as quietly pacified 
as he imagined. 

Another interview took place between his mother and 
his aunt, in which the latter advised writing to Miss Vivian 
direct to tell her what his father and mother thought of the 
friendship, and that an uncle of his would call upon her at 
once. 

To say that the letter was an insult is to put it mildly, 
though at the same time it was not so much through inten- 
tion as ignorance. 

Lorraine read it with silent amazement, and thought 
the writer must be mad. It seemed quite incredible that 
any lady in the twentieth century should apparently be so 
ignorant concerning the status of a celebrated actress. It 
was evidently taken for granted that she was an adven- 
turess of the worst type. 

She was naturally somewhat angry and indignant, but 
decided it was not worth while to take any notice, and 
merely awaited vrith some curiosity the visit of the uncle 
who was to expostulate with her, and, practically, offer 
her terms. 

He came at about twelve o’clock, and he did not give 
his name, merely asking to see Miss Vivian on a matter of 
business. 

274 


WINDING PATHS 


275 


Lorraine dressed with special care, and looked her best 
when she quietly entered the drawing-room. She gave an 
order to her maid with the door half opened, in the most 
casual and imperturbed of voices, then she came slowly in, 
closed the door behind her, and advanced toward the figure 
standing on the hearth. 

When she had taken two steps she stood still suddenly, 
and in a voice that was rasping and harsh, exclaimed: 

You! 

AlymePs uncle squared his shoulders, stroked his white 
mustache with a gallant air, and replied: 

Yes — er — Lorraine. We meet again, you see. I may 
say — er — I am very glad indeed that it is so,” and he 
advanced a step with outstretched hand. 

But Lorraine was rooted to the spot where she stood, 
and a sudden, sharp fierceness seemed to burn in her eyes. 

Have — you — come — about — Alymer — Hermon ? ” she 
asked in slow, cutting tones, as if each word was ham- 
mered out of a seething whirlpool of suppressed emotions. 

Alymer is my nephew, and his mother asked me to 
come and — er — talk to you about him. She is a good deal 

perturbed on his behalf — er — ^because ” 

I do not want to know any more than I am able to 
gather from the extraordinary epistle I received from her 
this morning. What I should like to know is, did you 
agree to come here on this errand, knowing who I was ? ” 

The faded blue eyes of the carefully dressed old roue 
began to look uncomfortably from one object to another; 
anywhere, indeed, but into those scorching orbs, with their 
suppressed fires. 

Then he took his courage in his hands, and tried again. 

^^My dear Lorraine, you seem to be taking rather a 
theatrical view of a very commonplace matter. Of course 
it is bad for the boy to get mixed up in a scandal, just at 
the beginning of his career, or, for the matter of that, 
talked about with a celebrated actress whose husband is 


276 


WINDING PATHS 


known to be living somewhere. I have come to yon as a 
man of the world, to ask you as a woman of the world to 
be generous in the matter, and help me to set the minds of 

his parents at rest at once ” 

Ah ! It was as a man of the world you came to me 
before ; but then I — I ” — she gave a low, unpleasant laugh 
— I wasn’t a woman of the world, you see, until you had 
taught me, and left me.” 

He did not quite know what the laugh meant, but now 
his old eyes were roaming over the beauty that was yet 
hers, and memory was stirring, and something made him 
reckless. 

Don’t speak of it like that,” he pleaded, drawing a 
little nearer. I know I didn’t perhaps treat you quite 
well ; but if there are any amends I can make now ? — If 

you will let us be friends again 

Amends — amends. What do I want with amends 
from such as you ? ” And her eyes flashed dangerously. 
He retreated quickly, with a hurt, rather cowed expression. 

“ Well, Fate has thrown us together again ; and I am 

still a bachelor — and I have money ” 

Do please try not to insult me any further.” 

Lorraine had grown calmer, though the dangerous 
look was still in her eyes, and she moved away to the win- 
dow, leaving a large space between them, and half turned 
her back to him. 

I have already burned the epistle I received from 
Mrs. Hermon — its insults were too utterly foolish to notice. 
You may go back and tell her her son has never received 
any harm from me, and I absolutely decline to discuss the 
question any further. As for yourself — ^you will doubtless 
find a taxi on the rank, just outside.” 

But, my dear lady, I cannot go back leaving the mat- 
ter like that.” 

He grew emboldened again, now that he could not see 
her eyes. 


WINDING PATHS 


277 


I am here to plead on Alymer’s behalf. If you are fond 
of him, you must at least listen to reason for his sake.^^ 
Not from you. And who are his people that they 
dare to treat me like this? . . . First an insulting letter, 

and then an emissary such as you 

Alymer is my nephew, and his mother is my sister, 
and therefore I am a most suitable emissary, except for 
a certain incident of long ago, which has long been con- 
signed to oblivion by both of us, I am sure. The boy is 
young. He is on the threshold of life and a great career. 
What will be the result, do you think, if you refuse to 
listen, and perhaps ruin his prospects for your own 
pleasure ? ” 

She turned back to him a moment, and the smoldering 
fires leaped up. 

I was young. I was on the threshold of life. What 
did you care for my youth or my future ? What do other 
men like you care ? My mother was lax, and you knew it. 
I believe you gave her diamonds. And now you come to 
me and ask me to spare your nephew — you come — 
you! . . and the scorn in her voice lashed him like a 
stinging whip. 

But he tried valiantly to stand his ground, though all 
his fine attire and air of bravado could not save his visible 
shrinking into a faded, dissipated, worthless-looking old 
rogue. 

If you won’t listen to any plea from me, will you 
permit me to make one from his mother, and appeal to the 
woman in you to realize her anxiety ? ” 

Lorraine turned again to the window and looked out 
upon the silver, shining river. And suddenly it was as 
though all her soul rose up in arms. She felt with swift 
passion that it seemed to matter so much in the world that 
a young man with a promising future should not run any 
risk of harm from an older woman. 

But if it was a young woman, and an older man, what 


278 


WINDING PATHS 


did it matter then? Why, the very man who would have 
hurt her could allow himself to plead for another young 
thing, if that other were a man. 

Doubtless he would argue, as all the rest of them, that 
years in men craved the freshness and revivifying of youth ; 
it was only natural, and a woman mattered so much less. 
But the mature woman herself, she has no right to indulge 
in any longing for that same freshness and revivifying. 

Ten years ago this man had been just at the age, and 
with just the handsome, aristocratic appearance, in spite of 
iron-gray hair, that so often attracts a girl in the early 
twenties. She scorns boys at that age, and feels the compli- 
ment of being chosen by a man of the world before the many 
older women she cannot choose but see would gladly be in 
her place. That it is her youth and not herself that holds 
the attraction is unknown to her, and a clever man may 
often dupe her young affections. 

Lorraine, with her romantic, imaginative temperament, 
had grown to believe herself in love with him, and then had 
followed the old, sordid story of insult and her consequent 
disillusionment. The memories stung her now with a bitter 
stinging, heightened by the feeling that life cared so much 
more for Alymer’s welfare than it had ever done for hers. 

And then that appeal to her woman’s feeling to sym- 
pathize with the perturbed mother. 

Well, because she was his mother, surely she was blessed 
enough. What had she to place against that great fact. 
She felt painfully that in spite of her success her life was 
pitifully, hopelessly barren, scarred this way and that, torn 
and rent and damaged by mistake upon mistake which could 
never now be rectified. 

A nausea of it all made her feel in those tense moments, 
gazing at the serenely fiowing river, that had she a child she 
would be borne away on the smooth silver water with her 
little one, out of the fret and turmoil, to some quiet nest 
in the cliffs at its mouth ; and there for the years that were 


WINDING PATHS 


279 


left her she would fill her days with the peaceful, homely 
joys that had never yet been hers. 

But how could she go alone? Only in the uneventful 
days to find her loneness intensified a thousand times, and 
without escape. 

No; the river would flow on to that serene haven; but 
never forever would she and a little one of her own be borne 
on its motherly bosom to the country of little things and 
peacefulness. 

And the thought only stung her afresh ; driving the sting 
in deep and sharp while this man remained under her roof. 

Well,” he said at last ; and in the interval his voice 
seemed to have regained some of its polished, self-possessed 
satisfaction. I see you are deep in thought. You were 
always tender-hearted, and I felt I should not appeal to your 
woman’s heart in vain.” 

Her face was turned away, so that he could not see her 
expression, nor read what was in her eyes, and purposely 
she let him go on. 

You will, I know, let me go back with the message Mrs. 
Hermon is waiting for so anxiously. It will be quite simple. 
No doubt you have countless admirers, and if you summon 
another, and let Alymer think he is replaced, after the first 
hot-headed wrath he will quickly become normal again, 
and apply all his faculties to his profession. I know you 
are too clever not to appreciate just everything involved, 
and too generous not to give the young man his best chance.” 

Then he cleared his throat, stroked his mustache, and 
waited, wondering a little why she did not speak. He 
squared his shoulders again, and glanced round to catch a 
reflection of himself in the overmantel, then once more 
stroked his mustache with a sleek air of growing satis- 
faction. 

It had certainly been a most ticklish undertaking, and 
but for his diplomacy, he believed one foredoomed to failure. 
But of course Lorraine was a woman of the world, with a 


280 


WINDING PATHS 


larger mixture of the other kind of womanliness, perhaps, 
than was usual, and he in his perspicacity had deftly ap- 
pealed to both. 

Then Lorraine turned round, and at the first glimpse 
of her face his own fell, and suddenly he seemed to be 
shrinking visibly; as if he would not ungladly have van- 
ished through the fioor. 

She took a step or two forward, and stood in front of 
him with her head held high, and those same scorching 
fires in her eyes; and there was something almost over- 
awing in the taut intensity of her whole attitude, mental 
and physical. 

No,” she said, in a cold, firm voice. You may not go 
back and tell Alymer’s mother that I agree to cease my 
friendship with him for you and for her. You may go back 
and tell her that because when I was young you had no 
thought of my future, and no consideration for my youth, 
I refuse absolutely to parley in the matter at all. I shall 
not change my course of action by one iota. I shall not take 
any single thought for the future. The future may take 
care of itself. If you can estrange Alymer from me, that 
is your affair. Eather than estrange him myself, I will bind 
him closer. 

That is my answer to you, and to the lady'' with fine 
scorn, who sat down yesterday and penned that unheared- 
of letter to a fellow woman she knew nothing whatever 
against. Yet I think I could have charged that to her 
evident ignorance concerning theatrical matters, and for- 
given her, if a monstrous irony had not sent you to plead 
her cause- ” 

My dear Lorraine,” he interposed, but she stopped him 
with an imperious gesture and continued : 

There is nothing for you to say, nothing that I am in 
the least likely to listen to. You have evidently misunder- 
stood my character from first to last. Probably you even 
credited me with wantonness in those far-off days when I 


WINDING PATHS 


281 


was fool enough to believe all you swore to me of love and 
devotion. However that may be, you tried to set my feet in 
the wrong path, and when it suited you, gave me a push that 
further evil might conveniently widen the breach between us. 
Probably you have done much the same again since, and 
with as little compunction. What I have to say to you now 
is just this, once again. Your mission to-day is not merely 
useless; it has considerably aggravated any danger there 
may have been. Because of every girl a middle-aged man 
has treated as you sought to treat me I shall hold Alymer 
to his friendship if I can, and use any influence I may have 
to increase rather than decrease his visits. 

‘^It may be fiendish of me. I don’t know. I am no 
angel; not even the obliging, soft-hearted fool you and 
Alymer’s mother seem to have concluded I might be. And 
what is more, if I had a vein of kindliness and unselfish 
consideration, you have done your utmost to stamp it out. 

Most of us are half good, and half bad. To-day, you 
have given the devil in me an impetus such as it has seldom 
had before. That is your affair. Go back and explain the 
real truth if you dare. Tell Mrs. Hermon you found the 
low adventuress a devil, and one that you yourself had 
tried to help to make. Tell her ” — again with that low, un- 
pleasant laugh — that you fear the worst for Alymer. 

That is all. Now you can go.” 

Once more he futilely tried to speak, but she only waved 
him aside, and walked with a haughty, scornful step ahead 
of him. 

Jean,” she called to her maid, as she passed through 
the little hall, will you open the door for this gentleman ? ” 
In her own room, she slid down into a large cushioned 
chair and sobbed her heart out. 


CHAPTER XXX 


It was there Hal found her. By the merest chance she 
had run up to the flat at her midday hour, to ask a question 
about Sir Edwin Crathie, and a rumor concerning him that 
she felt an imperative need to have answered. When she 
saw Lorraine in tears the question was instantly banished 
for the moment. 

Had Lorraine been in her normal condition, she could 
hardly have failed to notice that the " Hal ” who came up 
in haste to ask this urgent question was not the Hal ” of 
a few months, a few weeks ago. She would probably have 
observed that the vague, indefinable change Alymer had 
seen in her had grown more marked and more defined. 

She seemed to have sprung suddenly into womanhood. 

It was no light-hearted, careless, rather boisterous girl 
who appeared unexpectedly at the flat, to give her one or 
two eager hugs, tell her the latest news of her doings in gay, 
gossipy fashion, and eat an unconscionable amount of choco- 
lates, usually kept for her special delectation. 

The old, bright look was there on the surface, the ready, 
laughing speech, but there was also, with it, something that 
approached a dignified phase, and suggested a new reserve. 
She was also distinctly better looking, likewise, in some 
vague, incomprehensible way. 

But Lorraine had not time to take any note of the 
change, for all her faculties were bent upon shielding her- 
self. 

Of course it was useless to hide that she had been crying, 
282 


WITOINCt paths 283 

but at least Hal must not know that the crying had been 
soul-racking sobs. 

With a look of consternation and dismay she, Hal, was 
across the room in a bound, kneeling beside the big chair. 

My dear old girl, what in the world is the matter ? 

Lorraine contrived to smile with some appearance of 
reality, as she dried her eyes, and said : 

don’t quite know. It’s idiotic of me, isn’t it? If 
you hadn’t come and stopped me, I should never have been 
able to appear to-night for swollen eyes.” 

But Hal was not so easily put off. She grasped both 
Lorraine’s hands in hers and said resolutely: 

Why are you crying. Lorry ? ” 

Feeling it hopeless to avoid some sort of a reason, she 
replied : 

I had a letter this morning that upset me rather. It 
is silly of me to take any notice, and I shouldn’t if I were 
well. I’ve been wretchedly nervy lately, and it makes me 
silly about things.” 

“ What was the letter about ? ” 

Oh, only some one who is jealous, I suppose ; trying to 
get a little satisfaction out of saying a few things that may 
hurt me. It is so silly of me to mind.” 

Hal’s mind immediately flew to Mrs. Vivian, and instead 
of inquiring any further she just said : 

Poor old Lorry,” and kissed her affectionately. 

Then with a little laugh : 

I suppose you weren’t going to have any lunch at all, 
but I’m frightfully hungry. I hope to goodness there is 
something in the house.” 

Eun and tell Jean to see cook about it, there’s a dear. 
I must bathe my eyes and try to look presentable.” 

While they lunched Hal chatted of many things, but 
she noted that Lorraine was looking thin, and seemed to 
have something on her mind, while she made no attempt 
to eat what was placed on her plate. 

19 


284 


WINDING PATHS 


When she was pulling her gloves on later she asked: 

“ Why don’t you take a week’s holiday and go into 
the country. Lorry? ... It is no use going on until you 
are ill, as you did before.” 

I think I must ask about it. I feel as if one week 
would do me a world of good. How is Sir Edwin ? Have 
you seen him lately ? ” 

We played golf on Saturday.” 

A white look came suddenly into Hal’s face, and she 
riveted her attention on an apparently tiresome fastener 
as she asked, with the greatest show of unconcern she could 
muster, the question that had brought her there. 

Have you heard a rumor that he is going to marry 
Miss Bootes ? ” naming one of the richest heiresses of the 
day. 

^^No; I hadn’t heard it.” 

Lorraine gave a quick glance at her face, but saw only 
the look of concentration on the fractious fastener. 

Well,” Hal said' in level tones, I suppose she is 
worth about half a million, and I don’t think he is rich.” 

Probably he has only been seen speaking to her, or 
taking her to supper at a big reception. That would be 
quite enough to make some people link them at once, and 
fix the date of the wedding.” 

There’s a bun-fight at the Bruces’ to-night,” Hal ran 
on, with Llaney to play the violin, and Lascelles to sing 
— quite an elaborate affair : so it is sure to be very boring ; 
but I suppose Alymer will be there, looking adorably beau- 
tiful, and all the women gazing at him. It will be enter- 
taining to chaff him, anyhow.” 

Well, don’t tell him you found me weeping,” with a 
little laugh. He might not realize it was only nerves.” 

I’ll tell him he’s to take you away for a week’s holi- 
day,” Hal replied lightly. Goodness knows, you’ve done 
enough for him.” 

She went back to the office and settled down to her 


WINDING PATHS 


285 


work with resolute determination, but anyone who knew 
her well would have seen that some cloud seemed to have 
descended upon her, and that all the time she stuck to her 
work she was wrestling to appear normal, in the face of 
some enshrouding worry. 

Through all the letter she was writing, and over the 
proofs she read to aid the chief, there seemed to be one 
sentence dancing in letters of glee, like a war dance exe- 
cuted by little black devils on the foolscap of her mind. 

It was last night she had heard it, that ominous piece 
of news that took her violently by surprise, in spite of her 
practical common sense. Some one had said it quite casu- 
ally in the motor bus — one man to another, as an item of 
news of the day. 

They say Sir Edwin Crathie is to marry Miss Bootes 
the heiress.” 

What ! The Eight Honorable Sir Edwin Crathie ? ” 

So they say. He’s very heavily in debt, I believe — 
over some bad speculations — and an heiress is about the 
only thing to float him. Besides, the party wants rich men, 
and it would be a good move on his part.” 

That was all, and then the two silk-hatted, frock-coated 
men had got out. Eminently well-to-do men — probably 
both stockbrokers, but men who looked as if they would 
know. 

Hal had gone home in a sudden torment of feeling. 
Of course he was free to marry the heiress if he wished, 
but why, if so, had he dared once again to drop the mask of 
companionable friendliness with her and grow loverlike? 

The change had been coming slowly of late, wrought 
with inflnite caution and care. He had not meant to 
frighten her again, and And himself in disgrace, so he had 
taken each step very leisurely, and made sure of his ground 
before trusting himself upon it. The next time he kissed 
her, he had determined she should like it too well to resent 
his action. 


286 


WINDING PATHS 


And the safe moment, as he deemed it, had come the 
previous Saturday after a delightful afternoon at golf. 
They had motored down to the Sundridge Park Links, and 
stayed afterwards to dine at the clubhouse, then back to 
Bloomsbury, and into the pretty sitting room, where Dud- 
ley was not likely to appear until late, because he had gone 
to a theater with Doris. 

And then for the second time he had kissed her. 

But this was quite a different kiss. It was a climax 
to one of the best days they had ever had — a day in which, 
besides playing golf, they had talked of State secrets and 
State affairs. He had paid her the compliment of talking 
to her as if she were a man, and Hal, being exceptionally 
well informed on most questions of the day, was able to 
hold her o^vn with him, and to make the conversation of 
genuine interest. 

And his quick, observant brain greatly admired her 
power of argument, and her woman’s directness of method, 
confirming the view that while a man usually indulges in a 
good deal of preamble, with many doubts and side lights, 
a woman trusts to her instinct and arrives at the same 
conclusion in half the time. Of late, too, he had talked 
to her of interesting modern problems ; and what had been 
frivolous in their earlier friendship had solidified into a 
real companionship. 

And now as he stood on the hearth with his back to the 
fire, looking with rather critical eyes round the pretty room 
that Hal had contrived to rob of nearly all its lodging- 
house aspect, she stood quite naturally and unconcernedly 
beside him drawing off her gloves. 

""It was a good game,” she was saying, ""if you had 
not messed up that sixth hole. IPs a brute, isn’t it? I 
was lucky to escape that marshy bit.” 

"" You are getting too good for me. Your drives out- 
classed mine nearly every time.” 

"" But I can’t approach. I never, never shall be able to 


WINDING PATHS 


287 


hit a ball just far enough. If I loft on to the green at all 
it is always the far side, with a roll.” 

You’ll soon master that. A little more practice, and 
you’ll be in form for matches. I think we’ll have to go 
away somewhere and have a fortnight’s golfing! Why 
not to some little French place? You would finish up a 
first-class player.” 

Hal laughed lightly. 

Just imagine Brother Dudley’s face when I told him 
I was going to France for a fortnight with you I ” 

“ You wouldn’t have to tell him anything about me,” 
watching her with a sudden keenness in his eyes. “ I 
should have to be personated by Miss Vivian or some one.” 

Oh, I dare say Lorry would come for the matter of 
that. We might teach her to play, too.” 

Well, I hardly meant she should actually be there,” 
he went on in a meaning voice. ‘‘ She’d be rather in the 
way, wouldn’t she? I don’t know that I could do with 
anyone else but you.” 

He stepped closer to her, and slipped his arm round 
her shoulders. A third person will always be in the way 
when I am with you, Hal.” 

She changed color, and breathed fitfully, moving as if 
to disengage herself from his arm. 

No, don’t go. This is very harmless, and I’ve been 
exceedingly good for a long time, now, haven’t I ? ” 

All the greater pity to spoil your record,” putting up 
her hand to remove his. 

But he only clasped her fingers tightly, and drew her 
closer, till he could feel her heart palpitating a little 
wildly ; and that gave him courage. 

It has been far harder than you have the remotest 
idea of. I deserve one kiss, if only by way of encourage- 
ment.” 

His face was close to hers now, and with a little mur- 
muring sound of gladness he kissed her cheek. 


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Little woman/’ he murmured, I’ve grown desper- 
ately fond of you. I hardly know how to do without you. 
Be a sensible little girl, won’t you ? ” 

She disengaged herself resolutely then, but she was not 
angry, and her eyes were shining. 

“ You are transgressing flagrantly — as I should express 
it in a newspaper report. Collect your forces, and retire 
gracefully,. 0 transgressor.” 

I suppose I really must go now. It’s been such a 
splendid day, hasn’t it ? ” 

He seemed to speak with a shadow of regret ; and there 
was a shadow of regret in his eyes also as he riveted them 
on her face. Then he turned suddenly and picked up his 
cap. 

Well — the best of friends must part — and the best of 
days come to an end. Good-by, little girl.” 

With his cap in his hand, he suddenly put both his 
arms round her and kissed her with the old passionate 
eagerness — then he loosed her and turned to the door. 

I’m in love with you, Hal — ^head over ears in love ; 
but it’s a devilish hard world, and Heaven only knows 
what’s to come of it.” 

With which enigmatical sentence he let himself out and 
departed. 

When he had gone Hal stood quite still where he had 
left her, and looked into vacancy. About her lips there 
was the ghost of a smile. In her ears was only the recollec- 
tion of the words, I’m head over ears in love with you.” 

So, it was coming at last — the great, glad day of love 
and fulfillment. If he had set out to trifle with her at first, 
at least he was serious enough now. She, too, had only 
trifled in the beginning, seizing a little fun and adventure 
in her workaday world. There had been no reason to 
suppose it need hurt anyone. Now, she, too, was serious. 

Perhaps the things detrimental to him that she had 
heard previously had some truth in them then, but he was 


WINDING PATHS 


changed now. Love had changed him. He was like another 
man. She had seen and felt it in a thousand ways that 
could not be translated into speech or writing. It was just 
that he was ditferent, and in every particular it was to his 
advantage. 

She was different, too. She did not resent the kiss, be- 
cause she knew that he honestly cared for her. And she 
knew, too, that she honestly cared for him. The end of the 
enigmatical sentence rankled a little, but she did not let 
herself dwell upon it. 

She chose instead to remember how he had kissed her; 
and that he had confessed he was head over ears in love 
with her. Which only showed that Hal — for all her world- 
ly wisdom and practical common sense — could be as blind 
and as romantic as anyone when her heart was touched, 
and her pulses romping feverishly at a memory that 
thrilled all her being. 

Three days later she had heard the conversation. 

Of course it was absurd — manifestly so — and yet, and 
yet 

After a miserable twenty-four hours of fighting against 
her own uneasiness, she paid the fiying visit to Lorraine, 
to see if she could glean any light on the gossip from her, 
only to return to the office baffled and tormented. 

It was the enigmatical sentence that pressed forward 
now, instead of the thrilling confession that he loved her. 
AVas it possible he was indeed so base as to love her and 
tell her in the very same week that he had asked another 
woman to be his wife ? 

And if so, what had prompted him ? Wliat was in his 
mind? Why had he not left things as they were, and 
refrained both from the kiss and the confession ? 

And then above her tortured feelings rose the trium- 
phant thought, goading and pleasing at the same time: 

Whether it is true or not, he loves me — not her, the heiress, 
but me — Hal Pritchard — the penniless city worker.^’ 


CHAPTER XXXI 


In the evening came the party at Dick Bruce’s home, 
and it was necessary, she knew, to thrust all recollection of 
Sir Edwin aside, in order to give rise to no questioning and 
appear as usual. 

So she dressed herself with special care, rubbed a pink 
tinge on to her white cheeks, bathed and refreshed eyes 
dulled by worry and shadows, and made her appearance, 
looking, if anything, a little more radiant than usual. 

By Jove! you look stunning, Hal,” was her jovial 
uncle’s warm greeting. Who’d ever have thought, to 
see the ugly little imp of a small child you were, that you 
would grow up into a fashionable, striking woman ? I con- 
gratulate you. When’s the happy man coming along ? ” 
When I’m tired of enjoying myself,” she laughed, 
and feel equal to coping with anything as trying as a 
husband. At present a brother keeps me quite sufficiently 
occupied,” and she passed on. 

Across the large, well-lit room, towering above everyone 
around him, she saw the head and shoulders of Alymer 
Hermon. All about her, as she moved toward him, she 
heard the low-voiced query : Who is he ? ” 

Xo society beauty at her zenith could have caused 
greater interest. He was looking grave, too, and thought- 
ful, which suited him better than laughter, giving him 
something of a look apart, and banishing all suggestion of 
the conceit and self-satisfaction that would have spoiled 
him. Then he caught sight of Hal, and instantly all his 
290 


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291 


face lit up, and a twinkle shone in his eyes as he edged 
toward her. 

How late you are ! I thought you were never coming. 
Did your hair require an extra half hour ? I suppose you’ve 
been tearing it out by the roots over your faithless swain.” 

I don’t know what you mean, and anyhow I shouldn’t 
be such a fool as to tear my own hair out by the roots for 
anyone. If hair is coming out in that fashion, it shall be 
his roots.” 

Come and sit down. I’ll soon find you a chair.” 

What’s the good of that ? We can’t converse unless 
you sit on the floor. I work too hard to spend my even- 
ing shouting banalities at the ceiling.” 

‘^Well, let’s hunt for a couch; there are plenty here 
on ordinary occasions. Isn’t it a poser where all the 
furniture goes to at a ^ beano ’ like this ! There’s nothing 
in the hall, nor in the dining room ; and there doesn’t seem 
to be much here. Let’s make for the lounge.” 

^^But I can’t take you away. I shall get my face 
scratched. You were made to be looked at, and half these 
silly people are staring their eyes out in your direction. 
I don’t know how you put up with it so serenely. I should 
■want to bite them all. If I were a man, and had been bur- 
dened with an appearance like yours, I should want to hit 
Life in the face for it.” 

Don’t be silly. What does it matter ? It pleases 
them, and it doesn’t hurt me. I get my own back a little 
anyway . . . when I "want to ” — with a low, significant 
laugh. 

'' Oh, of course lots of women are in love with you 
with a contemptuous sniff ; but if I were a man I wouldn’t 
give twopence for the woman who made me a present of 
her affections. You miss all the fun of the chase, and the 
victory. It must be deadly dull.” 

"^That’s what Lorraine has sometimes said; but what 
can I do? Shall I paint my face black?” 


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WINDING PATHS 


Oh, Pve seen you look black enough, but iPs rather 
becoming than otherwise. Anyhow, it isn’t insipid. But 
you’ve grown quite manly lately, I suppose. I hear about 
you occasionally positively working hard. Heavens! — 
what you owe to Lorraine ! ” 

I do,” fervently. 

Then why in the world don’t you look after her a bit ? 
I turned up unexpectedly at half-past one to-day, and 
found her sobbing her eyes out.” 

^^You found Lorraine sobbing her eyes out . . in- 
credulously. 

I did. She told me not to tell you, as it was only 
nerves — but of course it wasn’t. You know as well as I 
that Lorraine doesn’t suffer from weepy nerves. It’s worry 
again; and she is looking thoroughly ill.” 

^^Why again? ...” 

He was looking grave enough now, and there was 
anxiety in his voice. 

Oh, because there’s often something to worry her — 
either her mother, or her memories, or the future. I sup- 
pose you haven’t bothered to go and see her lately to cheer 
her up ? Been too busy with your briefs 1 ” 

I was there yesterday, to inquire how she was after 
a bad sick headache. The room was all violets and snow- 
drops ” ; and his eyes grew soft. 

‘^And did the sight of her robust health knock you 
backward ? ” 

Hal was irritable from the strain on her own nerves, 
and it pleased her to hurl sarcasms at him, feeling some- 
how angry at his calm, smoothly flowing path to success. 

I thought she looked ill, and I advised her to go away 
for a week.” 

That was kind of you. And why won’t she take your 
safe advice ? ” 

She won’t go alone, and she said there was no one to 
go with her.” 


WINDING PATHS 


293 


^^Too many briefs, eh?’^ 

What have my briefs to do with it ? ’’ 

Oh, nothing. She^s given hours and hours to you and 
your future; but of course you couldn’t risk sparing a 
week ” 

But ! . . .” he began with raised eyebrows. 

Oh, don’t ^ but ’ in that inane fashion. If you say 
it isn’t proper I shall scream. Lorraine is nearly old 
enough to be your mother, and she has far too much sense 
to be in love with you ; and you wouldn’t be so idiotic as to 
imagine it any use for you to be in love with her. There- 
fore it’s only a companion she wants to keep her from 
moping and dwelling on sad thoughts ; and you seem to be 
able to do that — as well as any of us ; so why can’t you get 
another man, or boy if you prefer it, to go for a run into 
the country with you? Flip would take her by the next 
train if he were here. He wouldn’t care a farthing for 
scandal mongers. But I suppose he can do that sort of 
thing because he’s a man. And, anyhow, I don’t suppose 
she would go with you, even with a third person. She might 
think a whole week of you too much of a good thing.” 

His face had grown still more thoughtful, and he paid 
small heed to her taunts. 

Lorraine sobbing, Lorraine ailing, Lorraine unhappy, 
filled his mind. What could have happened to upset her 
so? True, she had not been looking well for some weeks, 
and had complained of headaches and weariness; but he 
felt sure something quite apart had transpired to upset her 
so thoroughly. 

Neither did he think it was Hal’s version of the usual 
worries. He greatly feared his own people had made some 
move of which he was in ignorance. He contemplated 
with deep vexation the probability that he himself was in- 
directly the cause of her new trouble, and he mentally 
decided then and there to go to considerable lengths, if 
she wished it, on her behalf. 


294 


WINDING PATHS 


Probably if be traveled down to some seaside place and 
saw her comfortably settled, and later on ran down to 
fetch her, she would be more easily induced to go. At 
any rate he would call the very next day and see, if his 
proposition simplified matters at all. 

Hal watched him a little impatiently, and at length 
remarked : 

‘^You seem to be thinking rather hard. Are you 
meditating upon Lorraine’s trouble, or my suggestion, that 
it is unlikely she could endure a whole week of you, 
unadulterated ? ” 

Both,” with a humorous glance at her. 

I’m thinking it would be interesting to find out the 
truth in both cases.” 

Well, you won’t do that. Lorraine never tells her 
troubles. Not even to me. And she’s too tender-hearted 
to hurt your feelings on the other question.” 

I’m not afraid of that.” 

His face grew a little brighter, and, as if satisfied with 
the result of his cogitations, he changed the subject. 

What’s making you so ratty to-night ? Is it the faith- 
less swain ? ” 

I don’t know what you mean.” 

Perhaps you haven’t seen the evening paper.” 

I haven’t. I’m sick to death of papers by six o’clock.” 

^‘Well, you oughtn’t to have missed it to-night, and 
then you’d have had the pleasure of seeing the announce- 
ment of the faithless swain’s engagement to the rich 
heiress.” 

Hal bit her lip suddenly, and felt her blood run cold, 
but she kept her outward composure perfectly, and merely 
commented : 

Oh, you mean about Sir Edwin Crathie and Miss 
Bootes! . . . That’s very old news.” 

Well, it was only in the paper to-night anyhow ; and 
only given as a rumor then. I was going to ask you if it 


WINDING PATHS 


295 


is true. They say he’s in the dickens of a mess for money. 
But of course you know all about it.” 

He was enjoying himself now, feeling that he was get- 
ting a little of his own back, and it made him uncon- 
sciously merciless. 

It must have been rather a trying moment when you 
had to break to him that you couldn’t possibly pay any 
of his debts, and that therefore you must part ? ” 

I don’t know anything about his debts. They don’t 
interest me. I can beat him at golf, playing level, and 
that’s far more to the point.” 

Then you are going to play golf with him, while Miss 
Bootes* bears his proud name in return for paying his 
debts ! Sure, it sounds a nice handy arrangement for him.” 

Then Hal got up. 

I don’t want to talk to you, because you are talking 
such drivel ; and I don’t want to look at you, because your 
pink and white and blue and gold* irritate me beyond 
words, so you’d better go and stand in the middle of the 
room for the benefit of those who delight to gaze ; and I’ll 
go in search of a refreshingly ugly person who can talk 
sense ! ” 

Hermon gave a low chuckle of enjoyment, and con- 
tinued to chuckle to himself until she was lost to sight 
and his hostess was introducing some charming debutante 
to him. The debutante was pink and white and blue and 
gold likewise, and gazed up at him adorably under long 
curling lashes ; but he might have expressed a fellow-feeling 
with Hal, for he found himself merely bored, and longed 
to go in search, not of a refreshingly ugly person, but of 
the refreshingly irritable, snappy, unappreciative one who 
had just left him. 

When at last he was free, however, he found Hal 
had complained of a headache and gone home early, 
unattended. 


CHAPTEE XXXII 


On her way home Hal stopped the taxi and bought an 
evening paper. When she got in, however, she found 
Dudley there, so she merely held it under her cloak. 

You are back early,” he said, in a surprised voice. 

^^Yes. It was very formal and very dull, and I was 
tired.” 

He glanced up with questioning eyes. It was some- 
thing new for Hal not to stay until the last moment at a 
festivity. He thought she looked a little paler than usual, 
and there were shadows about her eyes, but she interrupted 
any comment he might make by an inquiry after Doris. 

She is very well.” 

He stopped short rather suddenly, and seemed thought- 
ful. He had been urging Doris to fix the date of their 
wedding, and let him see about taking a house or a fiat, 
but she had seemed to avoid the subject lately, and he 
was a little troubled. 

I suppose poor Basil is much the same ? ” 

Yes. He and Ethel were both asking what had be- 
come of you. They said you hadn’t been up for a long 
time.” 

I haven’t. I’ll go to-morrow. Good night,” and she 
kissed him, and went upstairs. 

In her own room she sat on the bed, and read the even- 
ing paper. 

Yes, it was there, sure enough, but it was only given as 
a rumor. We understand there is a rumor. . . .” How 
well she knew the phrase, with its dangerous suggestive- 
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WINDING PATHS 


297 


ness, and safe retreat. She wondered who had started the 
rumor, and how the paper had got it. 

But, again, insistently she asserted it could not be 
true. If it had not been for last Saturday she might have 
believed it. But after that . . . no, he could not be so base. 
She put the thought away from her, and tried to sleep, but 
her eyes would look out into the blackness, and her brain 
ask questions. 

What if it were true ? ’’ She clinched her hands and 
fought the question. It could not be true; why worry? 
Yet he had never made the slightest suggestion of marrying 
her. She remembered that, but scorned it. 

Why should he? There had been nothing loverlike 
between them until the previous Saturday; and of course 
had there been anyone else, it would have been so easy to 
go on the same and make no change that particular after- 
noon. 

Finding what comfort she could out of these thoughts, 
she fell at last into a troubled sleep. 

The following afternoon, in fulfillment of her promise, 
she went up to Holloway from the office. Doris was out, 
and Ethel not home yet, but the door was opened to her by 
a gaunt stranger, who said : 

Come in. This is one of my days. I’m in charge 
this afternoon.” 

Hal looked into the angular face, which appeared to 
her as if it had been roughly hewn with a chisel, by some 
one who was a mere amateur, and she could not repress 
a little smile. 

I don’t think I’ve met you before. Are you — are 
you — a friend of Mr. Hayward’s?” 

Well, he’s a friend of mine, if that will do as well. 
I’m generally known here as G. The letter isn’t stamped 
on my face, but it’s on the door of my fiat, and that’s much 
the same.” 

She stood aside for Hal to pass down the passage, add- 


298 


WINDING PATHS 


ing grimly as Hal loitered, with rather an amused, engag- 
ing expression: 

I don’t stand for much more than a door, with a G 
on it, as I often tell Mr. Hayward, but I suppose it’s all 
right.” 

A little more occasionally,” suggested Hal. A door 
wouldn’t be much use to Mr. Hayward, anyhow.” 

‘^That’s what he says. Won’t you go down to his 
room ? ” 

Wliat are you going to do ? ” 

" Get the tea. It’s one of the few things I can do 
passably well.” 

‘^Let me come and help. It won’t take long. I’m 
interested in that door. You see, I’m not even G; and 
I don’t possess a front door.” 

The music teacher looked searchingly into her face, 
and was evidently pleased with what she saw, for she 
adopted a friendly note, and seemed ready to chat. Hal 
followed her into the little kitchen, and commenced to 
take off her hat. 

I’m an old friend,” she volunteered, and I often 
leave my hat in here. Are both Mr. Hayward’s sisters 
out ? ” 

Miss Hayward will be late to-night, and her sister is 
uncertain. It depends somewhat upon which young man 
she is out with,” in acid tones. 

Hal glanced up in astonishment, but her companion 
was busy with the cups and saucers, and did not notice 
the look. 

^^All I can say is, I’m sorry for that nice gentleman 
who is fool enough to think of marrying her. Lord ! he’d 
be safer with some one with a face like a door knocker, 
such as mine. But there, they’re all the same; and the 
nicest of them are generally the biggest fools.” 

Hal grasped the situation at once, and instead of en- 
lightening her concerning her own identity, said casually : 


299 


I 

WINDING PATHS 

\ 

There’s another young man as well, is there ? ” 

There is so. A pawnbroker I should take him to be, 
who wears the jewelry left in his care on his person for 
safety. As a matter of fact, I believe he is a South African 
millionaire. He brought her home one day, and Blake — 
that’s the housekeeper’s husband down below — recognized 
him. He was out in South Africa in the war, and he saw 
him then.” 

Hal drummed on the table with her fingers to assume 
nonchalance. 

Does Miss Hayward know ? ” 

Know ? Of course she doesn’t. How should she 
know, particularly if that artful monkey did not want her 
to. I don’t know where the poor sick man would be now 
but for me. She’s always off somewhere — that minx — 
and I rush back from my music pupils, because I can’t 
rest for the thought of him here all alone. I’ve given one 
up, who wanted a lesson at half-past four every day. That’s 
the time he needs his tea.” 

Why do you do all this for him ? ” Hal found herself 
asking, a little unaccountably. He is nothing to you, 
is he — no relation, I mean ? ” 

“ Nothing to me ! . . . Oh, isn’t he though ! I’d like to 
know what is anything, if he’s nothing ? ” 

She rattled the cups and saucers a little restlessly, and 
Hal, with growing interest, waited for her to go on. 

Before I knew him, I was nothing in the world but a 
door with a letter on it, as I’ve just told you. That’s all 
I stood for, a mere letter of the alphabet who paid a 
monthly rent. I told him so, when I first, came across, and 
he said, ^ Well, I’m very glad they didn’t leave G out of 
the alphabet.’ That’s all. 

But I’m his slave now.. Nobody cared whether there 
was a G or not before. It isn’t pleasant to feel you’re a 
mere cipher, with no particular meaning to anyone; just 
shot in haphazard to fill up a blank— a mere creature, 
20 


300 WINDING PATHS 

useful to teach exercises and scales to odious children one 
only longs to slap. 

Fancy being expected to keep yourself alive in a dingy 
little flat, forever alone, just to do that ! The cups rattled 
more restively still. I say, the universe is the grimmest 
jester there ever was. Me to teach music to keep life in 
a body that doesn’t want it ! If I’d been einployed laying 
out corpses in their graveclothes there’d have been some 
sense in it. I’m not much more than a figurehead of an old 
hulk myself. But music ! Music ! Oh, Lord, and 
I haven’t one real note of it in my whole composition.” 

Hal seated herself on the table. With her quick in- 
tuition she perceived at once entertainment of an original 
kind was before her, and she promptly laid herself out to 
obtain all she could. 

Why do you teach music ? I don’t think you do quite 
suggest a musician ? ” 

Of course I don’t.” 

The gaunt spinster was cutting some bread and butter 
now with a savage air. 

Do I suggest anything, except perhaps a butcher or 
an undertaker? Yet I can only keep myself alive with 
music. That’s the jest of the Arch Humorist. My father 
was a clergyman. He droned out services for fifty years 
in a hamlet, with a little square church like a wooden 
money box. I was taught music so that I could — well — 
make the tin-pot organ groan, I used to call it. I had twen- 
ty-five years of that, with never a break. I got so that, to 
keep myself from turning into a stone gargoyle on the 
organ seat, I must have toy little jest, too. 

One way I had it was by making the organ groan dis- 
malest at weddings and christenings, and squeak hilari- 
ously at funerals. Father never noticed, he’d already 
turned gargoyle, you see, and as for the village people ! 
well, it suited them, because they always wept at weddings, 
and overate themselves at funerals.” 


WINDING PATHS 


301 


‘^And then?” Hal was so thoroughly enjoying her- 
self now, she had almost forgotten the invalid. 

Well, then the gargoyle died, or ran down, or some- 
thing. I should think he got tired of singsonging the 
tender mercies of God to the devout people, and His judg- 
ments on the wicked. It always seemed to me the good folks 
got the nastiest knocks; and the wicked, well, they fairly 
left the green bay tree behind. 

Anyhow, I’d been devout enough, as far as sinning 
goes, for forty years. I wasn’t even blessed with the chance 
to be anything else. Then a new parson came, an under- 
done young man with new fal-da-dal ideas. I wonder how 
soon he'd become a gargoyle ? I defy him to stand out long 
against the cast-iron nonentity of that village. But he 
didn’t take kindly either to me or my music. Hadn’t any 
sense of humor at all. I don’t know that I ever knew a 
clergyman who had. Perhaps a man couldn’t very well go 
on being a clergyman if he possessed such a trait. 

Anyhow, this particular one did not think I put enough 
expression into the tunes. He said they hardly sounded like 
sacred tunes at all ; which wasn’t surprising, when you come 
to think that sometimes a low note and sometimes a high 
note on that little tin-pot organ would take it into its head 
to stick, and would* either boom or squeak all through the 
thing I was playing.” Hal burst out laughing, quite un- 
able to contain herself any longer, but the spinster went on 
calmly : The tune might just as well have been ^ Down by 

the Old Bull and Bush ’ then, but it wasn’t my fault, be- 
cause when your hands and arms and feet and eyes and ears 
are all struggling to keep time with a village choir that 
varies its pace every few bars, you’ve got nothing left to 
release a stuck note with.” 

‘^1 hope you didn’t tell the underdone young parson 
about ^ The Old Bull and Bush ’ ? ” said Hal, still rocking 
with enjoyment and bent chiefly upon leading her on. 

^^I’d never heard of it then, or I might have. Even 


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WINDING PATHS 


that wonT reach the village I’m thinking of for a hundred 
years; and then they’ll play it until the very birds lose 
heart, and think they are uncannily up to date. So they 
are if you count it when things come round the second 
time. I told him if the organ seemed to be pla3ring 
^Yankee Doodle,’ I supposed it was because it felt like it; 
as, for twenty-five years, it had more or less pleased itself 
at my expense. 

“ But he’ll be a gargoyle soon, and then he won’t notice, 
and it will boom and squeak to its heart’s content. Of 
course I ought to have stayed on because I matched it all, 
and I didn’t mind the booming and squeaking as long as 
the choir didn’t get convulsed, and stop altogether — ^be- 
cause that was liable to catch father’s attention. A gar- 
goyle is out of place in London. It’s as mad for me to be 
here as that I’m here to teach music. After I became fos- 
silized I ought to have stayed on till I died, and then that 
self-willed organ could have fairly squeaked itself out over 
my corpse. Come along and have some tea now. Poor Mr. 
Hayward will be getting faint.” 

But you’re too perfectly delicious for anything ! ” Hal 
cried, springing off the table. Why haven’t I known you 
for years ? Why haven’t I known you all my life ? You must 
meet my cousin Dick Bruce. You absolutely must, with the 
least possible delay. He’ll simply dote on you. Come along 
to Basil, and tell me heaps and heaps more”; and she 
caught her by the arm in the friendliest fashion, and half 
pulled her along to the little sitting room. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 


What a gossip you two have been having ! ’’ Basil said, 
and, seeing the laughter in HaTs eyes, he added, “ has G 
been telling you some of her amazing theories, or tearing 
the existing order of the universe to shreds ? 

Oh, I don’t know, but she’s simply immense. Have 
you heard about the tin-pot organ that will play its own 
way, and the choir that gets convulsed, and the under- 
done young parson ? She’s simply got to know Dick. He 
wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

Yes ; I’ve heard most of it. She plays an organ of 
laughter for me nowadays, that makes me bless the day 
she was born.” 

The gaunt spinster positively blushed. 

Oh, that’s just your way,” she snapped, bashfully 
trying to hide her pleasure. “ If I hadn’t been G, a pretty, 
charming young woman with real music in her might have 
been, and you’d have liked that much better.” 

Xo, I shouldn’t. She’d have played ^ Home, Sweet 
Home,’ with variations, and ^ The Maiden’s Prayer ’ — I 
know her at a glance. If you do only play scales and ex- 
ercises, I’m sure you manage to put a lot of character into 
them.” 

That’s only thumping; and who wants thumping? ” 

I do, when it’s the universe. I’m just as much askew 
with it as you are, only I haven’t got the wit to thump it 
so satisfactorily. You are going it for the two of us now.” 

"" Still, you’re not a gargoyle ! . . .” with a queer twist 
of her face that delighted Hal. 

I shall positively take you to Dick myself,” she said, 
303 


304 


WINDING PATHS 


" or bring him here to you. He’ll talk to you about a 
mother’s patience and babies, and you’ll talk to him about 
gargoyles and organs, and Heaven only knows where you’ll 
both get to ; but I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” 

I don’t know who Dick may be, but if he talks to me 
about mothers and babies ” — ^grimly — I shall groan like 
that organ did at christenings. They may be useful in the 
general scheme, but beyond that I don’t know how anyone 
can put up with them at all; with their potsy-wotsy, and 
pucksie-ducksie, and general stickiness. It’s quite enough 
for me that I have to knit stupid little socks for their silly 
little feet, for bread and butter. The most I can say for it 
is, that it’s a more satisfactory plan than casting your bread 
on the waters, on the off-chance some kindly Elijah will 
butter it.” 

Where are the socks, G ? ” Basil asked, looking round. 

I should like Hal to enjoy the edifying spectacle of your 
knitting babies’ socks.” 

^^You don’t mean that,” interrupted Hal comically. 

I can’t believe it.” 

“ It’s the horrible truth,” asserted the spinster, calmly 
going on with her tea — ^^most of them go to little black 
whelps in the Antipodes. After all, it isn’t any more 
incongruous than the music — is it ? ” 

But you don’t do it for the underdone young parson, 
surely ? ” 

Goodness gracious, no. What an idea ! He wiped his 
hands of me long ago. The wildest stretch of imagination, 
you see, could not picture me ever looking like an angel ; 
so he left me to my fate ! ” And again the humorous 
twisted smile delighted her small audience. 

“Have you seen Splodgkins lately?” Basil asked. 
“You say all babies are sticky and objectionable; but you 
must admit that sticky imp down below is better than two 
thirds of the other babies in the world shining with soap 
polish.” 


WINDING PATHS 


305 


So he is ; and the grim face relaxed still further. 

He was sitting in my way on the stairs this morning, and 
as I could not get by, I said, ^ Make room, please, Master 
Splodgkins ; you don’t own the universe.’ ^ Eth oi doth,’ 
he lisped. ^ Noime ain’t thplodums. Damn th’ ooniverth.’ ” 
It was good to hear Basil’s whole-hearted laughter. 

We ought to have had him to tea,” he said regretfully. 

He would have delighted Hal. He’s two and a half years 
old ” — turning to her — “ this remarkable personage ; and, 
like most gutter snipes, has developed as an ordinary child 
of four. He and G have debates occasionally. He wishes 
to be called D, because that is the letter on his front door, 
and ^ Splodgkins ’ hurts his dignity, but he’s so funny when 
he is indignant we can’t resist teasing him.” 

A little wistful smile crept into the invalid’s eyes. 

We have lots of fun in this dingy old barrack between 
us,” he told Hal. We are rarely silly enough to be dull, 
with so many queer, interesting folks under the same roof.” 

Hal felt something like a sudden lump in her throat, 
but she smiled brightly as she looked from one to the other, 
feeling somehow the better for knowing such waifs of life 
and circumstance, who could yet baffle Fate’s pitilessness 
with genuine laughter. 

Dick is writing a most weird and incomprehensible 
book on vegetables and babies. I’m quite certain you could 
give him lots of ideas,” she remarked to G. 

He’d better put Splodgkins in if he wants to make 
it sell,” said she. Only they mightn’t allow it at the 
libraries. Splodgkins’s vocabulary is fortunately sometimes 
indistinguishable for his lisp.” 

Splodgkins couldn’t be translated,” put in Basil. 

He sometimes comes to tea with me and G ; but he is 
almost too exhausting. I think he knows every bad word 
in the English language ; but one has to forgive him because 
he always saves half his cake for his baby sister, and hurls 
violent abuse at anyone who dares to disparage her. 


306 


WINDING PATHS 


Are you going? . . . as G got up. I’m sure Miss 
Pritchard doesn’t want you to leave us.” 

Miss Pritchard ! ...” in a horrified voice. 

Never mind,” said Hal quickly. It didn’t matter.” 
Then- to Basil, in explanation : G said something about 
Doris’s fiance, not knowing I was his sister, but I quite 
forget what it was. Good-by, G,” holding out a frank ‘ 
hand. I think you’re a delightful person, and I’m just 
as glad as Basil that you weren’t left out of the alphabet.” 

A few minutes later Doris came in, looking flushed and 
stealthy, and the first thing Hal noticed was a lovely little 
diamond brooch she had not seen before. 

What a darling brooch,” she exclaimed, after their 
greeting. Did Dudley give you that ? He might have 
shown it to me.” 

No . . . ” stammered Doris, turning red. I’ve had 
it a long time. It’s not real.” 

Well, it’s a wonderful imitation, then,” said Hal a 
little dryly — and remembered the man like a pawnbroker’s 
shop. 

Then Ethel joined them, and Hal’s quick eyes saw the 
still increasing anxiety, just as surely as she saw the in- 
creased furtiveness in Doris’s sidelong glances. And be- 
cause of all that she felt for Ethel, she thrust her own care 
into the background resolutely, and made the evening as 
gay as she could while she was there. 

Only afterwards she went home through a lamp-lit 
darkness, feeling as if some vague shadow had descended 
silently upon her little world. 

What was this insistent, nameless fear at her own 
heart? Why was Lorraine weeping when she found her 
yesterday ? Why was trouble steadily gathering on Ethel’s 
face ? What was this gossip about Doris ? 

The gloom of a foggy night added to her depression. 
Why, in the tube railway, did all these people about her 
look so white and tired and lifeless ? Did they just go on 


WINDING PATHS 


307 


in their niches, in the same way that the grotesque music 
teacher had gone on in hers for all those monotonous years ; 
only to become like an uncared-for, unwanted letter of the 
alphabet pushed in to fill up a blank in a big city at last? 

Were they all gargoyles — fixed, rigid, joyless, carved 
things, fastened in their respective niches, not for orna- 
ment, or for use specially, but just because the general 
machine seemed to require them? 

And if so why? . . . Why? . . . Why? , 

It was so easy to be joyous if one was made for it. 
Such a little would make everyone gay, if they were 
fashioned accordingly. What could be the good of dis- 
figuring a beautiful world with all these vacant, expression- 
less, hopeless masks? 

Hal did not read poetry. She was perfectly frank 
about being utterly bored with it. When she had anything 
to say, she liked to say it straight out, she explained, with- 
out twisting it about to make it rhyme with something just 
shoved in to fill up the line ; and she preferred other people 
to do the same. 

Yet, perhaps, at that particular moment, had she seen 
the lines ; 

Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 

Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Remold it nearer to the Heart’s Desire? 

In her present mood she might have recognized also 
the stateliness and the beauty of a thought transcribed into 
verse. 

Or possibly she would have obstinately asserted there 
was no occasion to introduce the word Love at all — and it 
was no one’s Heart’s Desire she wanted, but just a com- 
mon-sense, reasonable amount of pleasure for all, and a 
spring-cleaning of all the gloomy, wooden faces. 

In the sitting room at Bloomsbury she threw her hat 


308 


WINDING PATHS 


down on the sofa, and ran her fingers through her hair 
with an almost petulant air. 

^^I just feel to-night as if it was a rotten old world 
after all,” she said. 

Dudley, sitting poring over some plans with a reading- 
lamp, looked up in mild surprise. 

And what has made you feel all that? Not Basil, I’m 
sure.” 

Well, there’s no occasion to be so very sure. I think 
it’s decidedly rotten where Basil is concerned.” 

She came and half sat on one of the arms of his chair, 
and rested her hand on his coat collar. 

I wonder what G would think of a sane man spending 
his evening ruling pointless-looking lines on a big sheet of 
paper ? ” 

And who may ^ G ’ be ? ’^ 

I hardly know — except that she’s the quaintest per- 
son I’ve ever struck yet — and I’ve seen some funny ones.” 

Oh, I know who you mean. Yes ; she is an oddity. 
Well, how was everyone? How was Doris?” 

I hardly know. She was not there when I arrived, 
and she did not come in until a few minutes before Ethel.” 

I wonder where she was ? ” thoughtfully. I asked 
her to come for tea and a walk in the park to-day, and she 
said she could not leave Basil.” 

Hal looked keenly into his face, and immediately he 
smiled and said: 

I suppose the tenant opposite was free unexpectedly, 
and Doris was able to get out after all. Poor little girl. 
I’m glad. But I wonder she didn’t telephone me.” 

Hal turned away, feeling a little sick at heart. 

Were they all then in the maelstrom of this gloomy 
sense of an engulfing cloud ? What could be the meaning 
of Doris’s behavior ? Did Dudley suspect anything ? Cer- 
tainly he had been a good deal preoccupied of late, and 
spoken very little of the future. 


WINDING PATHS 


309 


She looked out of her window across the blue of Lon- 
don lights, and her thoughts roved a little pitifully across 
the wide reaches of her own small world. From Sir 
Edwin, with his high post in the nation’s councils, and Lor- 
raine with her brilliant atmosphere of success and triumph, 
to the dingy block of flats in Holloway, where, in spite of 
almost tragic circumstances, to quote Basil, they had lots 
of fun ” among themselves. 

She believed he meant it, too. It was no empty phrase. 
Rather something in touch with Life’s great scheme of 
compensations, which she manipulates in her own great 
way, beyond the comprehension of puny humans. 

Certainly neither Sir Edwin nor Lorraine could boast 
of lots of fun.” Rather, instead, much care and worry 
and brain-weary grappling with problems of modern suc- 
cessful conditions. 

She wondered, with a still further sinking at heart, if 
perhaps the time had come when she would have to 
grapple, too. Was it very likely, after their delightful 
friendship, and after that confession of his the previous 
Saturday, Sir Edwin was prepared tamely to give her up? 
In her heart, she knew him better. 

And yet, if the rumor was not false, what else could 
result? Vaguely she felt it might be one of those prob- 
lems of modern society, coming across the evenly flowing 
river of her life, to demand solution. Not the solution of 
the crowd — to follow a beaten track is rarely difficult — 
but her own individual solution, which might mean much 
warfare of spirit and weary heartache. The foregoing of 
an alluring pleasure she deeply longed to take — not for any 
reward nor any gain, but solely for the sake of that 
mysterious power abroad in the world which is called Good ; 
and which demands of the Present Hour that it is ready to 
crucify itself and its deep desires for the sake of the Future. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 


As the days of that new springtime crept on, it ap- 
peared that the shadow descending upon Hal’s little world 
had come to stay. 

Things happened with surprising quickness, and each 
happening was of that particular order which presents 
itself enshrouded in gloom, and, with a pitilessness which 
is almost wanton, refuses to allow one gleam of the sun- 
shine, carefully wrapped up in its gloomy folds, to send a 
single glad ray of hope to those wrestling in its sinister 
grip. 

One knows the sunshine may possibly be hidden there 
somewhere — sunshine always is hidden in each event some- 
where — but what is the use of expecting it weeks or months 
or years hence, when it seems that one single ray now 
would be of more help than a whole sun in some vague, 
distant future? 

May it not be .that in the development needed to fit the 
individual for the full and glad enjoyment of the sunshine 
to come, a ray of light would blur the film, and spoil the 
picture instead of producing one that is strong, clear, and 
beautiful ? 

So, a dauntless belief in the sunshine to come, without 
a ray to promise it, may make for greater perfectness 
through steadfast courage than had one beam crept through 
to lessen the need for effort and for strong enduring. 

Yet it was strange that the grim hand of Destiny should 
strike at so many in that little world at the same time, and 
that its blows should be of that intimate nature which 
allows of no speech, even to one’s dearest friend. 

310 


WINDING PATHS 


311 


Lorraine knew that the rumor of Sir Edwin Crathie’s 
engagement was an admitted fact; but she did not know 
how hard it hit Hal. She could only have learned by acci- 
dent, and, because of events in her own life, she was out of 
the line of such a discovery. 

Hal knew that Lorraine, after a nervous breakdown, 
had gone somewhere into the country for a week or so, 
and that Alymer Hermon had run down later to see how 
she was getting on, and if he could do anything for her, 
but of the almost tragic circumstances that led up to his 
action she knew nothing, and imagined the merest generous 
attention. 

She saw also the preoccupied, aged look growing on 
Dudley’s face, and knew that the shadow was over him, 
too. 

Ethel saw the change creeping over Basil as no one else 
saw it, and knew that not even the far future could shed 
a single gleam for her upon the darkness coming. 

Yet — for life is over sad to dwell upon rayless darkness 
even in books — bright, enduring, beautiful sunshine was 
wrapped up in those black clouds to flood the little world 
with joy at the appointed hour. 

It was in Lorraine’s life that events moved first. After 
Hal left her, she spent a wretched, restless, brain-racking 
afternoon, and was only just able to struggle through her 
part at night. 

And afterwards she became suddenly sickened with the 
need to struggle. She was not extravagant by nature, and 
had saved enough money from her enormous salaries to 
live very comfortably if she chose. 

A nausea of the theatrical world and its incessant de- 
mands began to obsess her. She felt that from the first 
day she stood in a manager’s office, seeking the chance to 
start, it had given her everything except happiness. Money, 
success, position, jewels, fine clothes, admirers, friends, ad- 
ventures, gayeties — all these had come, if by slow degrees. 


312 WINDING PATHS 

but not one single gift had contained the kernel of happi- 
ness. 

Perhaps it was her own fault. Perhaps the trouble lay 
in the wrong start she had made and never been able to 
retrieve. But at least there was time to try another plan 
yet. 

Finally, feeling the nerve strain of recent events was 
seriously affecting her health, she decided to arrange a 
week’s holiday to think the matter out. 

But then what of Alymer? 

Nothing had changed her mood since his uncle paid 
his ill-chosen visit. She did not actually intend to try 
to influence Alymer against his people, but she did intend 
that he should not change to her, nor pass out of her life, 
if she could help it. 

Because she, and she alone, had started him off on his 
promising career, she meant to be there to watch it for 
some time to come. Her influence might not any longer be 
actually needed. The divine Are to achieve had already 
lit into a steady flame in his soul, and her presence would 
make very little difference in future. He had tasted the 
sweets of success, and ambition would not let him reject 
all that the future might hold. 

But she must be there to see. In her lonely life he 
meant everything now. There was no need for him to 
think of marriage for years yet; and in the meantime she 
felt her claim upon him was as strong as any mother’s fears. 

So she waited for his next visit, wondering much what 
would transpire if he had heard of his uncle’s call. 

As it happened, he had. In the interview he had sought 
with his aunt, to request her not to interfere in his affairs, 
the indignant lady hurled at him the story of the visit ; or 
such garbled account of it as she had received from the 
participator himself. 

That was quite enough for Alymer — that and Hal’s 
account of Lorraine in tears. He felt that his benefactress. 


WINDING PATHS 


313 


his great friend, had been abominably insulted, and he 
hastened in all the warmth of his ardor to her side. 

Lorraine was waiting for him in her low, favorite chair, 
and when he first saw her he could not suppress an ex- 
clamation to see how frail she seemed suddenly to have 
grown. 

Her skin was of ivory whiteness, enhanced by the tinge 
of color in her cheeks, and there were shadows round her 
eyes placed there by no cosmetic art. 

All that was not chivalrous, most protective, most af- 
fectionate in his nature rose uppermost, and shone in his 
face as he said : 

Lorraine, it is too feeble just to say I am sorry. I 
have been cursing the blunder with all my heart ever since 
I knew.^^ 

^^That was dear of you,’’ she said; ^^but of course I 
knew that you would.” 

I hoped so. I told myself over and over, you must 
know it had all happened without my knowledge.” 

Lorraine had no mind to make light of the matter. She 
felt she would hold him better by simply leaving it alone, 
and letting his own feelings work on her side. 

She knew of course that his uncle had probably tried 
to injure her case; but then, Alymer was a man of the 
world, and she trusted him, knowing what he must about 
his uncle, to judge her kindly. 

But all this seemed to fade into nothingness when she 
saw the distress and the affection in his eyes — the anger 
that anyone had dared to hurt her, and the eager wish 
to make amends. It made all her smoldering love leap 
up into fiame, and the strength of the suddenly roused 
passion almost frightened her. She felt there was des- 
peration in it, the desperation of the drowning man who 
catches at a straw, of the condemned man who seizes a 
last joy. 

Quite unexpectedly a reckless, surging desire began to 


314 


WINDING PATHS 


take possession of her soul. She had lost so much already ; 
been hit so many times; missed so many things. 

A picture came back to her, with a new allurement. 
The picture of herself with a little one of her own, floating 
down the peacefully flowing river to some quiet haven, far 
removed from the glare of the footlights. Should she 
make a bold bid to win that much from the years that 
were left? 

She sat quiet, looking into the heart of the fire while 
the thoughts coursed through her brain, and her long 
lashes hid from the man above her the glowing dream- 
lights in her eyes. 

Then he, too, pulled up a low chair and sat down, so 
that his head was more nearly on a level with hers, and 
still his eyes looked at her with that regretful, protecting 
expression. 

“ You must go away. Lorry,” he said, using Haks pet 
name ; you are beginning to look thoroughly ill.” 

I don’t feel well, but I haven’t the heart to go alone. 
I should only get melancholia.” 

Hal seemed to think I ought to offer you a little com- 
panionship.” He said it with a slightly bashful air. 

Hal ? ...” in a sharp, questioning voice. What 
has Hal been saying to you ? ” 

Not much. She was in great form at the Bruces’ 
last night. She rubbed it into me finely on various sub- 
jects, and finally went off with her head in the air to find 
some one refreshingly ugly who could talk sense.” 

They both laughed, but Lorraine’s eyes were thought- 
ful. 

And what did she say about your companionship ? ” 
Oh, that it was only some one to talk to and be com- 
pany vou wanted if you went away, and that I seemed to 
fill the post better than anyone just now.” He paused, 
then added: Do I?” 

She felt him looking hard into her face, and kept her 


WINDING PATHS 


315 


eyes lowered. She did not want him to know that the 
thought of his companionship in the country was like the 
straw to the drowning man — the last joy to the condemned 
one. 

“You always make me forget the years, and feel 
young,” she said slowly and thoughtfully, " and I dare say 
that is a very good tonic in itself.” 

“You oughtn’t to need help from anyone for that”; 
and she knew there was genuine admiration in his voice. 
“You never look anything but young. I suppose it is 
temperament.” 

“Temperament doesn’t erase lines,” with a little sad 
smile. 

“ Perhaps not, but it makes them, in some way, suit 
you; and they add to the character in a face.” 

“ It is sweet of you to say so, Alymer, but it sounds 
a fairy tale. I don’t so very much mind growing old, if 
only it were not so . . . empty-handed.” 

“ But surely you have so much ! ” 

“ Not very much that counts. Anyhow, I hope some 
day you will have a great deal more.” 

“ You are depressed. You must really get away some- 
where at once.” 

He was grandfatherly now, the mood she always loved 
and laughed at, and her pulses quickened to it. He placed 
one of his large, strong-looking hands over hers — it cov- 
ered them both out of sight — and he leaned a little nearer 
as he said: 

“ I can see I shall have to take the ordering of it all. 
You have done worlds for me. Now I shall have to take 
you in hand.” 

A harsh expression crossed her face for a moment, 
thinking of what his mother had written her. 

“ And go straight to perdition ! ” she said bitterly. 

He winced a little. 

“ I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to make excuses for 
21 


316 


WINDING PATHS 


my own mother,” he remarked, with the quiet dignity that 
was already winning his name in the law courts, side by 
side with his gift for light satire. You cannot but know 
in your heart just how far removed her outlook on the 
world is from ours.” 

She wanted to ask him if any outlook gave one woman 
the right to insult another at her pleasure, but she remem- 
bered Mrs. Hermon probably did not realize that she would 
have the fineness to see the insult, and was not even aware 
that she had been insulting. 

I should like you to know my father,” he went on. 

He is a very understanding man.” 

But surely he . . .” 

^^No; he knew nothing about it. Wlien my mother 
spoke to him he asked her not to interfere.” 

Ah!” 

Por a few swift moments the generous treatment called 
to her own generosity, and for the sake of the understand- 
ing father she was almost ready to let go the straw. Only 
then again came the recollection of the uncle, and his im- 
pudent offer to substitute himself, and make amends at the 
same time ; and again the smoldering fires leaped up, fed 
by the strong, protecting touch of the hand upon hers. 

I think Hal was right,” Alymer was saying. If my 
companionship, just to run down and see how you are, 
wherever you may be, will help to cheer you up and amuse 
you, there is no reason why I shouldn’t manage it.” 

She knew he was making a concession of which he was 
half afraid, because of what he owed her/ and while one 
half of her longed to be self-sacrificing and release him, 
the other half fiercely demanded the straw that yet might 
save. And still she said nothing, gazing, gazing into the 
flames. 

What do you think ? ” he asked. 

I hardly know,” with a tired smile. Of course I 
want you, but if ” 


WINDING PATHS 


317 


Never mind the ‘if,”’ cheerfully. “If I promise 
to run down and see you, will you go away at once, and 
try to get well again quickly ? ” 

“ It would make a lot of difference.” 

“ Then that settles it. Can you start to-morrow ? ” 

“ I think I could.” 

Her pulses were leaping fitfully now — leaping and 
bounding with a swift delight. Perhaps he felt it, for he 
withdrew his hand, and gave himself a little shake, as if 
warding off something dangerous. 

“ Where will you go ? ” in a matter-of-fact voice. 

“ I hardly know, but I like the sea. Any little place 
that is warm in the spring. I might as well motor down, 
so it doesn’t matter about trains, and the motor can come 
back for you.” 

“ Shall I bring anyone else ? ” His eyes searched her 
face. 

“ Just as you like.” She leaned forward and casually 
stirred the fire. “ Anyhow, there is sure to be plenty of 
room at this time of year.” 

“ Plenty of room, but not plenty of available companion 
chaperons,” with a little laugh. 

“ Then we should have to make Sydney serve,” naming 
her chauffeur. She got up from her seat. 

“I suppose I must think about dinner,” glancing at 
the clock. “ Are you joining me this evening? ” 

“ I can’t; I have to go to Morrison’s.” 

“ How gay you are ! ” 

“ It is diplomatic. Morrison could get me a brief to- 
morrow if he liked.” 

“There is a very pretty daughter, just out; isn’t 
there ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ And is she so strikingly lovely ? ” 

“ I suppose she is ; but she is so full of airs and graces 
she irritates one almost past endurance.” 


318 


WINDING PATHS 


I’m afraid you are a severe critic. The way is made 
too smooth for you.” 

She had moved near to him again, and stood beside him 
with one hand resting lightly on the mantelpiece, and one 
foot on the fender. He was standing as usual with his back 
to the tire. He looked down into her upturned face, fas- 
cinating now from a touch of roguishness. 

The splendid knight is hard to please ; mere beauty 
is too commonplace.” 

Isn’t it sure to be ? ” A little smile played round his 
lips as he made his gallant retort. How can mere beauty 
ever appeal to me, who have been accustomed to all you 
have besides ? ” 

Ah, flatterer ! ” she said softly, and smiled into 
the fire. 

There was a tense moment in which he longed to bend 
down and kiss her as he had done when the room was full 
of violets, but instead he pulled himself up sharply and 
moved away. 

^^Well, I must be off. Perhaps to-night I shall have 
the luck to be able to look at her from a distance, and not 
strike the jarring note. I’ll try to come in to-morrow to 
see what you have decided, and then I’ll run down on Friday 
afternoon for a long week-end, to see that you are taking 
decent care of yourself.” As an afterthought he added: 

I suppose Hal couldn’t get off ? ” 

I’ll ask her if you like. She would love it, if she 
could.” 

And keep us amused, too. I should get my head bitten 
off, but you could put it on again for me. Good-by. Any- 
how, it is a promise that you will go ” ; and with rather a 
hurried farewell, he was gone. 

Lorraine remained some moments gazing into the fire, 
and there was a softness in her eyes. She knew perfectly 
well that he had hurried at the last moment because when 
they stood together on the hearth he had wanted to kiss her. 


WINDING PATHS 


319 


And she could not help comparing his strength in re- 
fraining with what would have been the action of most of 
the men she had known, who would have professed more, 
and meant less. She leaned her head down on her hand, 
and wondered a little pitifully : 

Why had the best she had ever known come to her too 
late? ’’ 

And then followed the dangerous thought : Is it in- 
deed too late ? ” 


CHAPTER XXXV 


Lorraine was not able to see Hal, but she talked to her 
on the telephone, and told her she was going into the 
country at once, and Alymer was coming down for the week- 
end. ‘^We wondered if you could get off, too. Do try,’^ 
she said. 

Hal answered at once that she could not manage it this 
week, but possibly the next, if Lorraine were still away. 

‘‘IVe only arranged for a week’s holiday,” Lorraine 
replied. What a nuisance you should be unable to come 
this week.” 

As a matter of fact, Hal was only going out for the day 
with her cousin on Sunday, but an urgent little note from- 
Sir Edwin had begged her to keep Saturday free for him ; 
and because the suspense was becoming unendurable, she 
granted his request, determined to know the truth. 

So it happened that Lorraine motored down alone to a 
quaint little fishing village on the south coast, where there 
was a charming, old-fashioned, creeper-decked hotel, too 
far from the railway for the ordinary week-end tourists, and 
patronized mainly by motorists in the summer. 

And on Friday the motor went back to town to fetch 
Alymer, bringing him down about four o’clock, unaccom- 
panied. 

So Sydney will have to be chaperon after all,” Lor- 
raine said lightly. Xow, what should you like to do to- 
morrow ? ” 

Is there any chance of fishing ? ” 

He asked the question with some diffidence, fearing 
that it might only bore her. 

320 


WINDING PATHS 


321 


Lorraine clapped her hands. 

Exactly what I thought. We’re going to have the 
j oiliest little fishing-smack imaginable for the whole day; 
and Sunday, too, if you like; and take our lunch with us, 
and fish until we are tired.” 

A glad light leaped to Alymer’s eyes. 

“ By Gad ! You are a trump,” he said. 

In the meantime Hal waited a little feverishly for Sat- 
urday. They were to have one of their long outings. Meet 
at twelve, motor for two hours, lunch at two, then a walk; 
back to town to dine, without changing, in some grill room. 

Sir Edwin had mapped it all out beforehand, sitting at 
his desk, with an anxious, unhappy expression, unrelieved 
by the evidences all around him of what he had achieved — 
of the proud position that was his. Indeed he almost 
wished he could will it all away, and be just an independent, 
moderately successful solicitor, able to please himself in all 
things; instead of bound by the demands of party and 
position. 

And those demands just now were very exacting. It was 
not an easy party to serve, and the less so in that its ranks 
numbered many soldiers of fortune of the swashbuckler 
type, who meant to hold the power they had attained partly 
on the exploitation of a lie, by fair means or otherwise; 
even if necessary by further lies — lies upon lies — but clever, 
carefully manipulated ones; not bald, childish, outspoken 
ones. 

One of their most prominent officeholders had recently 
perpetrated a Jie of the latter type. Such a barefaced, 
impudent, obvious lie, that there was no possibility of cover- 
ing it up, and the whole country talked of it. Music halls 
laughed at it, comic papers and comic songs rang with it, 
election platforms bristled with it. 

Naturally the party was very annoyed. One could 
imagine them saying indignantly to the offender : Lie as 
much as you like, but for goodness’ sake have the common 


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sense to lie cleverly. If you can’t do that, better confine 
yourself to merely distorting facts.” 

The official in question held a post in the same depart- 
ment as Sir Edwin — which meant that quite enough oppro- 
brium had been recently hurled at the Law without risk of 
any further scandal. 

The party was not sufficiently strong for that. They 
had had fright enough over a paragraph in the Church 
Gazette, hinting that a lady in connection with one of their 
Ministers — where there should be no lady; but prompt 
action had steered the ship through those shoals in safety. 

But all the same, this business of The Eight Honorable 
Sir Edwin Crathie and the Stock Exchange had got to be 
attended to at once. Under no possible consideration must 
it leak out that a Cabinet Minister had been speculating so 
heavily, and lost to such an extent, that nothing but an 
immense sum of money could save him from disgrace, bank- 
ruptcy, and ruin. 

One friend and another had tided him over for some 
little time, but he had continued to be reckless and incau- 
tious, relying with an unpleasant sneer upon his title. 

Oh, well ! ” had been his conclusion ; “ if the worst 
comes to the worst, I can always sell my name to an heiress.” 

Finally, that unhappy condition had arrived. It had 
further chosen the worst possible moment — the moment 
when the music halls and comic papers were waxing 
hilarious over the badly executed lie. 

Sir Edwin had been summoned to a consultation that 
had been the reverse of pleasant. The only thing was that 
the way of escape had been thoughtfully planned for him. 
He had no need to hunt up the heiress for himself. She 
was considerately provided. 

Miss Bootes’s father was a wealthy Liberal, who had 
more than once generously supplied funds to the party, in 
return for some small favor he craved. Now he wanted a 
celebrity, with a title, for his daughter. Sir Edwin hardly 


WINDING PATHS 


323 


came up to the required standard, but Mr. Bootes was easily 
persuaded that there was absolutely no limit to his possibil- 
ities, were he once set on his feet as far as money was con- 
cerned. 

The Prime Ministership, followed by a Peerage, were 
in his certain grasp, had he but the necessary money to 
back him. 

Papa Bootes said over and over to himself : My daugh- 
ter, Lady Elizabeth Crathie (it was really Eliza, but had 
been discreetly changed to suit the fashion), and came to 
the conclusion that a Cabinet Minister for a son-in-law 
sufficiently banished the odorous flavor patent manures had 
given to his fortune. 

Finally he inquired the amount of Sir Edwin’s debts, 
and promised a check if the delicate little matter were 
settled. 

Hence the consultation, and the polite but firm intima- 
tion that Sir Edwin must close with the offer — that he had 
not even the right to choose ruin instead, because of its effect 
on the party. 

And of course, now the crisis had come. Sir Edwin did 
not want to close with the offer. In his own mind he con- 
signed the party, and all belonging to it, to the very worst 
hell of Dante’s Inferno. 

But, beyond relieving his mind a little, their imaginary 
exodus did not help him in the least. He found himself in 
the very undesirable position of furnishing a telling example 
of the utter impossibility of serving two masters. 

To do his common sense justice he had never had the 
least intention of attempting to. Without any prevarication 
as far as his own feelings were concerned, he had quite 
honestly chosen to serve Mammon. Having decided thus 
far, he banished the very memory of any other possible 
master. He did not exist for him. Mammon, in that it 
meant place, and power, and money, was the only god he 
wanted to serve.. 


324 


WINDING PATHS 


And now 

Well, of course, the Little Girl must go. At first he 
said it harshly, shrugging his shoulders and pursing his 
lips. It had only been a pastime all through, and, thanks 
to her own pluck and sense, it had been one of those rare, 
delightful pastimes that, ended suddenly, might leave only 
a gracious, enjoyable memory behind. He was glad of that. 

Somewhere in his heart, that was mostly impressionless 
india rubber, there had proved to be a healthy, fiesh-and- 
blood spot after all. She had found it quickly — gone 
straight to it with the unerring directness of a little child. 
It existed still — would always exist for her. 

But in future the india rubber would have to close over 
it, and hide it from all chance of discovery. In future he 
must not even remember it himself. For that way lay 
weakness. No serving of Mammon could be achieved, 
whichever way he turned, with the frank, candid, clever 
Little Girl. 

And so she must go; and since it was inevitable, the 
sooner the better. 

Then had come the afternoon’s golf ; and, without asking 
himself why, he had hidden from her that there was any 
change. Afterwards, because the impending finale made 
him desire her as he had never desired her before, he went 
into the pretty little sitting room and kissed her. 

When he hurriedly departed, he remembered only j^hat 
the kiss had been sweet. Also that evidently no rumor had 
reached her yet. But of course it would. Any moment of 
any day her newspaper office might get the news and pub- 
lish it. 

He spent a wretched week, torn mercilessly by his desire 
to serve two masters. In the end, because he was a man who 
hated to be thwarted, he swore a violent oath, and said that 
he would. 

Then he sent Hal the urgent little note, and made his 
plans for the day. They all hinged largely upon his hope 


WINDING PATHS 


325 


to get her to go to his flat in Jermyn Street, after that grill- 
room dinner. That was why when they met he cleverly took 
the bull by the horns directly he saw in her eyes that she had 
heard the news. He appealed, with insight, to her sense of 
humor. 

If you look at me like that,” he said, “ I shall punish 
you by sitting down here, in St. J ames^s Park, on the curb- 
stone, and giving you an explanation before all London that 
lasts an hour.” 

IVe a great mind to keep you to it,” with her low, 
musical laugh, and send Peter to bring a phonograph man 
with a blank record to take it down.” 

And a dozen journalists with snap-shot cameras, and 
biograph apparatus, to link us in notorious publicity to all 
eternity.” 

‘^No: I couldnT stand that. What is your alterna- 
tive ? ” 

^^A long, perfect day in this heavenly sunshine, pre- 
tending anything in the world you like that will make us 
forget the stale, boresome, old weekday world. Then, at 
the end of it, the unfolding of a glorious plan that is an ex- 
planation in itself.” 

Hal looked doubtful, and seemed to cogitate. He waited 
in an anxiety he could scarce conceal, watching her mobile, 
sensitive face. Finally the sunshine and the light-hearted 
carelessness made the strongest appeal, and she gave in. 

Very well. If it had been dull and cloudy I would not 
have agreed. But one daren’t trifle with sunshine. We’ll 
take our fill of it while it lasts.” 

So it happened that their last long day was one of the 
best they had known — each being clever enough to carry 
out the suggested programme and banish the following 
cloud for the time. 

Hal was a little feverish — a little gayer than usual, 
with some hidden strain; a little pathetically anxious to 
act an indifference she could not possibly feel, concerning 


326 


WINDING PATHS 


that rumor, and throw herself heart and soul into their 
compact of forgetting everything for a little while except 
the sunshine and the exhilarating dash through a spring- 
decked England. 

In some places the hedges were white with hawthorn; 
and in sheltered nooks they sped past primroses, like pale 
stars in the grass. There were plantations of feathery, 
exquisite large trees, their lovely green enhanced by tall 
dark pines, standing among them like sentinels. In gay 
gardens joyous daffodils nodded and laughed to them as 
they whirled past. Sir Edwin ventured an appreciative 
remark. 

Don’t talk,” Hal said. Pretend you are in a world- 
wide cathedral, and it is the great annual festival of 
spring.” 

May I sing ? ” he asked humorously. 

^^No; not as you value your life. We have only to 
listen to the choir. Hush, don’t you hear the birds sing- 
ing the grand spring ^ Te Deum ’ ! ” 

But after a time she spoke herself. 

Was it all like this on Thursday night — all these 
delicious scents and sights and sounds cast broadcast, for 
all who passed to enjoy?” 

I expect so. Why ? ” 

The kindliness in the quizzical gray eyes was amazing, 
as he sat back, watching her with covert insistence, instead 
of the spring glories. How the divine spark changes a man 
for the brief moments when it reigns ! Banishing utterly 
Stock Exchange scandals, convenient heiresses, exacting 
parties, the merciless claims of the god Mammon. He 
might have looked just so, years and years ago, before he 
entered that hard service, and buried all his best under 
layer upon layer of harsh, deadening, world-wise grasping. 
Pity that the best is so frail to withstand the onslaught of 
the demons of power and place — so easily overcome and 
thrust away probably forever. 


WINDING PATHS 


327 


I was up in Holloway. I suppose you know it ? And 
there was a strong man dying a helpless invalid, and his 
sister breaking her heart, and a woman from the opposite 
flat, who said she stood for nothing in the world but a 
letter of the alphabet. And all round was gloom, and 
murk, and shabbiness, and hard, pitiless facts. I came 
home in the tube, and all the passengers seemed to look 
like lifeless, starved, white-faced mummies. They made 
me feel frightened. I wondered where joy had fled to. 

^‘^And here, was it just like this all the time? . . . 
Flowers, and sweet scents, and spring, and hopefulness? 
. . . And scarcely anyone to enjoy it all ; while those white- 
faced, vacant mummies were journeying foolishly to and 
fro in that stuffy, detestable tube.’^ 

^^You shouldn’t go to such places. What have you 
to do with Holloway, and shabbiness, and starving people? 
If you belonged to me, I wouldn’t let you go.” 

Of course I have to do with them. We all have. But 
I don’t know what. And it frightens me. I don’t think 
I’ve ever felt frightened before. It was like being brought 
up sharp against a stone wall.” 

His lips were suddenly a little stern. Stone walls had 
to be broken down. That was the use of being strong. 
One was not frightened; one just got a battering-ram, 
and forced a passage through. He would tell her soon, 
but not out here. Not just yet. 

"You are forgetting our compact. I’m surprised at 
you, Hal. I call it a slight on the sunshine.” 

" Why, so it is ! . . . Avaunt, and leave my mind, Hol- 
loway ! This day belongs to the spring.” 

And until they drew up outside the Criterion Grill, she 
kept her spirits high, and gave herself to the joy of the 
hour. 


CHAPTER XXXVI 


When they were halfway through dinner Hal asked, a 
trifle abruptly: 

^^Xow, what about this piece of news? What does 
it mean ? 

He looked away, unable to meet her candid eyes, and 
said: 

I will tell you presently.” 

Where ? Why not now ? Why all this secrecy ? ” 

Because it is rather a big matter. You have some- 
times said you would like to see the horns and trophies I 
brought hack from my shooting trip in Canada. Come 
and see them this evening.” 

At your flat ? ” doubtfully. 

"^Yes. Why not?” 

Hal knit her forehead and looked perplexed. She had 
so insistently declined to go hitherto, that she was loath 
now to change her mind. Yet she felt it was rather silly 
to have any fear of him now. 

In the end she went. 

It was only eight o’clock, and he promised to take her 
home about nine. Besides, something in his manner was 
baffling her, and she wanted to understand how they stood. 

Once in the sumptuous, beautifully furnished flat, how- 
ever, he seemed to change. He came up to her suddenly, 
put his arms around her, and kissed her. 

At last,” he breathed. At last I’ve got you abso- 
lutely to myself.” 


328 


WINDING PATHS 


329 


“ Don’t do that.” 

Hal disengaged herself and held him at arm’s length. 
For a moment she looked steadily into his eyes, and then 
she asked: 

How has this report of your engagement got into the 
papers ? ” Her lips curled a little. I presume you would 
hardly act to me like this if it is true.” 

It is true in one sense, and not another.” 

Oh ! . . .” She seemed a little taken aback. In 
what way is it true ? Are you engaged to Miss Bootes ? ” 

Yes.” 

Indeed ! ” 

She lifted her eyebrows, and moved a pace or two 
farther away. 

Don’t move away from me,” he said a little thickly. 

It isn’t the part that’s true which matters, but the part 
that is not true.” 

I don’t understand.” 

I brought you here to explain. I can do so very 
quickly. I am in a tight corner. The tightest corner I 
ever was in in my life. Only one thing can save me. I 
must have money. Miss Bootes, or at any rate her father, 
wants a title. I haven’t the shadow of a choice. I have 
got to sell her mine.” 

Again Hal’s lips curled, and a little spark of fire shone 
in her eyes. 

Oh, I can understand all that ! ” She tossed her head 
half unconsciously. But why ” — her lips quivered a lit- 
tle — did you think it necessary to insult both of us by, 
at the same time, becoming loverlike to me?” 

I told you why ; because I love you.” 

He stepped up to her, and caught both her hands in an 
iron grip. 

‘^Now, listen to me, Hal. Don’t try to break away, 
for I won’t let you go. I tell you it’s a matter of life and 
death. In your heart you know quite well that I love you. 


330 


WINDING PATHS 


You knew it when I kissed you last Saturday, and you 
were glad. I don’t know when you read that announce- 
ment, but whenever it was, your heart said to you ^ Whether 
it’s true or not, he loves mef 

Probably you didn’t believe it was true, because you 
knew nothing whatever about the devilish mess I was in. 
But in any case, your heart told you right. I do love you. 
I love you with every bit of me that knows how to love. 
If I have to be hers in name, I am at any rate yours at 
heart, and shall be all my life. Now, what have you to 
say ? ” 

She tried to drag her hands away, but he gripped them 
tightly, forcing her to feel his strength, his resolve, and his 
masterfulness. 

“ I have nothing to say. What should I have ? You 
have elected to sell yourself, to let a woman ” — with swift 
scorn — ^^buy you out of a tight corner. I . . . I . . .” 
in a low tense voice, am sorry we ever met.” 

« Why?” 

He hurled the monosyllable at her, now almost crush- 
ing her hands in his grasp, as he waited, silently compelling 
her to reply. 

Because the friendship was pleasant. It has meant 
a good deal. And now for it to end like this ! ... for me 
to have to scorn you.” 

^"Why need it end? . . . Why should you scorn me? 
. . . Wouldn’t every second man you know in my place act 
exactly as I am acting? I have no choice. I ought not to 
tell you, but my political chiefs have issued an ultimatum 
to me, and I have got to obey it. Do you suppose I would 
consider it for a moment if I could find any other way out ? 
Do you suppose I would risk losing you, would even dream 
of giving you up, if I were not driven to it by the very hell- 
hounds of circumstance? 

"" To have felt love at all is the most wonderful thing in 
my life: I, who have always mocked and jeered and dis- 


WINDmG PATHS 


331 


believed. Well, anyhow it is there now. Listen, Hal. I 
love yon. I love you. I love you/' 

He tried again to kiss her, but she wrenched at her 
hands, held in his grip. 

Let me go. You . . . you ... to talk of love. You 

don’t know what it is. Let me go . . . let me go ” 

I won’t. By God, you shan’t speak to me like that. 
I won’t endure it.” 

He was evidently losing control of himself a little, and 
the sight of it steadied her. Behind all her bravado and 
pluck there was a terrible ache. Caught in a mesh of cir- 
cumstances, she knew she could not struggle out without 
being grievously hurt at heart. She knew that, however 
she loathed his action now, she could not unlove him all 
in a moment. 

When he scorched and seared her with his passionate 
declaration, her heart cried out that she wanted him to 
love her, that she wanted to be his. And yet stronger and 
higher and better than all, was that woman’s instinct in 
her soul which loathed his action and clung wildly in the 
stress of the moment to its own best ideal. 

In the swift sense of hopelessness that followed, great 
tears gathered in her eyes, and welled over on to her 
cheeks. They had an immediate effect upon him. He let 
go her hands. 

“ Don’t cry, Hal, don’t cry,” he said a little huskily. 

I can’t stand that.” 

She brushed the tears away almost angrily, but, ignor- 
ing his motion to draw up an armchair, remained stand- 
ing, straight and slim beside the hearth, trying to recover 
her composure. 

Sir Edwin commenced to pace the room. He had suc- 
ceeded in his scheme so far as to get Hal to the flat to dis- 
cuss the project in his mind, but now that she was here he 
felt at a loss to proceed. He wished she would sit down ; he 
changed his mind and almost wished she would cry ; stand- 
23 


332 


WINDING PATHS 


ing there, like a soldier on guard, with that direct, fearless 
expression, she disconcerted him, by making him feel mean 
and paltry and small. 

And all the time he could not choose but admire her 
more and more. He wished with all his heart in those 
moments that he could throw his position and his party 
overboard, and go to her with a clean slate, and say : 

“ I have done with serving Mammon. Come to me as 
my wife, and I will serve you instead.” 

And instead he had brought her there to say : 

I cannot give up serving Mammon. I must marry the 
heiress, but let me be your lover and I will serve you as 
well.” 

And all the time Hal stood there with those resolute, set 
lips, as erect as a young grenadier. 

But all the same he meant to have her if he could, and 
he remembered of old how often he had found a swift, bold 
attack won. So he stopped short beside her, and said : 

You know that whatever circumstances compel me 
to do, all my heart is yours, Hal, and you care a little bit 
about me. You know you do. Don’t condemn me to outer 
darkness. Come to me like the sensible little woman you 
are. No one will ever know, and I can make your life 
gayer and happier just as long as ever you like.” 

She looked at him with a startled, perplexed expression. 

What do you mean ? ” she asked slowly. 

“ Now, don’t get angry.” 

He laid his hand on her arm with a caressing touch. 

You’ve knocked about the world too much not to know 
what I mean. You know perfectly well half the girls you 
know would let themselves be persuaded. But that isn’t 
what I want. I’ve too much respect for your strength of 
character. Come to me because you can be strong enough 
to rise above conventions and because you dare to be a law 
unto yourself. It is the courage I expect of you. Hal, my 
darling, who is ever to be any the wiser if you and I are 


WINDIISTG PATHS 


333 


lovers ? Think what I can do for you to make life gay and 
interesting and fresh. Don’t decide in a hurry. If no one 
ever knows, no one need be hurt.” 

She moved away from him, and went and stood by the 
window, looking down at the passing lights in St. James’s 
Street ; looking at the lights in the windows opposite, look- 
ing at the faint light of the stars overhead. 

It was characteristic of her that she did not grow angry 
and indignant; nor, in a theatrical spirit, immediately 
attempt to impress him with the fact that she was a good, 
virtuous woman, and that his suggestion filled her with 
horror. Her knowledge of life was too wide, her under- 
standing too deep. 

She knew that to such a man as he a proposal of this 
kind did not present any shocking aspect whatever. When 
he said, Be a sensible little woman,” he meant it to the 
letter. He actually believed she would show common sense 
in yielding to him, and taking what joy out of life she could. 

But, fortunately for the world in general, it is not only 
the horror-struck, conventional, shocked women who reso- 
lutely turn their eyes from the primrose path. There are 
plenty of large-hearted, broad-minded women, who, seeing 
the world as it is, instead of how the idealists would have it, 
are content to go on their own strong way, fighting their 
own battle for themselves without saying anything, and 
without judging the actions of others, content in striving 
to live up to their own best selves. 

Hal was one of these. If another girl in her place had 
yielded to the alluring prospect of possessing such an inter- 
esting lover as Sir Edwin, to brighten the commonplace, 
daily round, she would not have blamed her, she would have 
tried not to judge her. 

But she would have been sorry for her in many ways, 
Imowing how apt the primrose path is to turn suddenly 
to thorns and stones; and in an hour of need she would 
have stood by her if she could. 


334 


WINDING PATHS 


But the fact of possessing these wide sympathies did not 
lessen any obligation she felt to herself. It was her creed 
to play the game ” as far as in her lay, and according to 
her own definition. 

That definition did not admit of any irregularity of this 
kind. It called, instead, sternly and insistently for abso- 
lute denial. It told her now, without the smallest shadow 
of doubt, that from to-night she must never see Sir Edwin 
again. She must take whatever interest he had brought 
out of her life, and go back to the old, monotonous round. 

It was useless to question or reason. The decree was 
there in her own heart. The insistent call to keep her 
colors fiying high, as she fought her way through the pit- 
falls of life to the Highest and Best. 

As he paced the room behind her, disclosing a carefully 
thought-out plan, now pleading, now expostulating, she 
heard him rather as one afar off. 

The plan did not matter one way or another. If she 
could have let herself go at all she would not have troubled 
about plans. His pleading and expostulation she scarcely 
heard. 

She was looking out at all the lights, and her mind was 
grappling with problems. How harsh the glare of the 
streets appeared to-night. How far, far away the pin points 
that were stars. Hal liked a city. 

Constellations hanging like great lamps in wonderful, 
wilderness skies would have wearied her quickly. She 
loved people, and she liked them all about her. But to- 
night she felt suddenly very near to the dark, shadowy side 
of life — very far from the stars of light. 

She glanced up at the pin points a little wistfully. If 
perhaps they were nearer with their message of high striv- 
ing; if perhaps the glare at hand were less harsh, there 
might be so much more steadfast courage in the world ; so 
much less weak acceptance of conditions that led to pain 
and misery and disaster. 


WINDI^^-Q PATHS 


335 


At last he stood beside her, and implored her to tell 
him, once for all, that she would yield and come. 

But when he saw into the clear depths of her eyes, he 
knew his hopes were vain. 

Suddenly, with swift self-distrust, his mood softened. 

I suppose IVe shocked you past forgiveness now,” he 
said miserably. You'll think I've been a brute to you, and 
you'll never forget it.” 

“ ISTo; I shan't think that; but I should like to go home 
at once.” 

But surely that is not your last word ! ” 

^^What else is there to say? I . . . I . . . can't do 
that sort of thing. That is all. From to-day you must go 
your way, and I must go mine. It is useless to discuss it. 
Let me go home.” 

But you can't mean it,” he cried. Surely we are not 
to part like this.” 

She had moved back into the room now, and was pulling 
on her gloves. 

What else can we do ? ” 

But you care for me, Hal. A'ou can’t deny it. You 
do care a little; don't you ? ” 

She looked into his eyes without a tremor, but with a 
pain at the back of hers that made him flinch. 

“ Yes, I care,” she said very quietly. 

Ah!” 

Suddenly he sat down, and buried his face in his arms 
on the table. Every good, honest trait he possessed called 
to him to throw Mammon to the winds, and make her 
happy. Let the party take care of itself. It was not 
for his nobility of character they had taken him into 
the Cabinet. Let his creditors do their worst — a strong 
man could win through anything. But the mood did not 
last. There was not enough room in that india-rubber 
heart for it to expand and grow. It died for want of 
breathing space. 


336 


WINDING PATHS 


If you care, why canT you have the courage to come 
to me ? ” he asked a little fiercely. 

Because I have the courage to stay away.^’ 

And he knew — hardened sinner that he was — that she 
named the greater courage. 

But his goaded feelings called to him, and drove him, 
making him mad with the knowledge he must lose her. 

Heroics ! . . .” he said — heroics ! . . . Don’t talk 
like a bread-and-butter miss, Hal. It is unthinkable of you.” 

He got up from his chair and took a step toward her, 
but stood irresolute — daunted by the calm strength in her 
face. 

The world is too old for heroics any more. Everyone 
laughs at them. Where is the politician to-day who cares 
tuppence for anything but the main chance? We blazon 
our way into office, and we blazon louder still to keep there. 
It is the spirit of the age. The strong man takes what he 
wants, and holds it by right of his strength. In primeval 
times we used fists and clubs. Now we hit with brains and 
words or hard cash. That is all the difference. The strong 
man is still the one who takes what he wants, and keeps it. 
And I want you, Hal. It is mere feebleness — childishness 
— to be thwarted by convention and circumstance. Hood- 
wink convention, and stamp on circumstance. Go through 
stone walls with a battering-ram. As long as the world 
doesn’t know — who cares ? Those are my sentiments. They 
have been for years. Wlien I want a thing, I go for it 
bald-headed, and take it.” 

He drew nearer boldly, refusing to be daunted, putting 
all his strength and determination against hers. 

And I want you, Hal. Do you understand ? Don’t be 
a little fool. Come.” 

She backed away from him toward the door. 

"'I understand well enough,” she said quietly, and 
I shall never see you again if I can help it. All that you 
say does not appeal to me in the least. I am not a politician 


WINDING PATHS 


337 


— thank God — and I am still old-fashioned enough to 
possess an ideal. I am going now. Good-by.” 

But when he saw she was already in the little hall, a 
wave of fierce desire seemed to catch him by the throat. 
^^Not yet,” he exclaimed hoarsely, ^^not yet. ... I 

care and you care — you cannot go yet 

But before he reached her, she had slipped through the 
front door, and shut it behind her, and run down the stairs 
out into the street. 


CHAPTEE XXXVII 


All through the next day, while motoring with her 
cousin Dick Bruce, Hal made a valiant effort to appear ex- 
actly as usual; but all the fresh spring countryside now 
seemed to mock her with its sudden emptiness, and the very 
engine of the motor throbbed out to her that something 
had gone from her life which would not come back any 
more. 

She chatted away to Dick manfully, about all manner of 
things, but in the pauses of their chatter she was silent and 
still in a manner quite unlike her old self — reattending with 
a start, and sometimes so distrait she did not hear when he 
spoke to her. 

After a time Dick began to notice, and then purposely 
to watch, and finally he perceived all her gayety was forced, 
and something was weighing heavily on her mind. 

It was useless to say anything while they motored, so he 
gave all his attention to his driving, and purposely allowed 
the conversation to drop. 

When they returned to Bloomsbury he went into supper 
with her, as was his habit, and, as he hoped, Dudley was 
away up at Holloway. It was not until they had finished 
their meal, and the landlady had cleared away, that he 
attacked the subject; then, with characteristic directness, he 
said: 

Now, Hal, what’s the matter? ” 

^^The matter? . . in surprise. ^^What can you 
mean, Dick ? Why should anything be the matter ? ” 

338 


WINDING PATHS 


339 


She tried to meet his eyes frankly, but before the 
searching inquiry in them her gaze dropped to the fire. 

Something is the matter, Hal. Just as if I shouldn’t 
know.’’ 

She was thoughtful a moment or two, thinking how 
best to put him off the right scent; then with overpower- 
ing suddenness came the recollection of all the pleasure 
and interest and delight the lost friendship had stood 
for, and her eyes filled with tears. It was useless to at- 
tempt to hide them, so she contrived to say as steadily 
as possible: 

I am a bit down on my luck about something ; but it’s 
nothing to worry about. Don’t take any notice; there’s a 
dear boy. I shall soon forget.” 

‘^But why shouldn’t I take any notice? Don’t be a 
goose, Hal. Tell me what’s the matter.” 

She was silent, and after a pause he added : 

I suppose it is Sir Edwin ? ” 

Hal felt it useless to prevaricate, and so she said, with 
assumed lightness : 

^^Well, it has been a little sudden, and we had some 
jolly times together.” 

Then he is engaged ? ” 

Yes.” 

She told him briefly why. Dick watched her with a 
question in his eyes. 

"" Did he deliberately get engaged to the other girl, know- 
ing he cared for you ? ” he asked. 

Hal tried to lie. 

Oh, there was nothing of that sort between him and 
me. We were just good pals. But of course it can’t go on 
the same.” 

You’re not a clever liar, Hal,” he said, with a little 
smile. 

She colored and bit her lip, with an uneasy laugh. Then 
the tears shone again. 


340 


WINDING PATHS 


Better tell me all about it. Perhaps I can lend a hand 
to get through with.’^ 

Hal placed her hands on the mantelshelf, and leaned 
her forehead down on them. 

Tell me something funny, Dick, or I shall howl in a 
few seconds. Don’t be serious. Be idiotic. Have the car- 
rots and turnips decided which take precedence yet? Is 
her ladyship, the onion, weeping upon the cabbage’s lordly 
bosom? Are the babies talking philosophy over their bot- 
tles? For Heaven’s sake, Dick, be idiotic, and make me 
laugh.” 

I think it would do you more good to cry.” 

Oh, no, no : I hate to cry. Do help me not to.” 

But Dick understood the relief it was to a woman to 
have it out, and he just sat down in Dudley’s big armchair, 
and reached the favorite footstool for Hal. 

Sit on the stool of confessional, and I’ll make you 
laugh later on. If you don’t cry now, you will when I’ve 
gone.” 

Hal sat on the footstool, and leaning against his knee, 
cried quietly for several minutes. He played with an 
unruly strand of hair until she dried her eyes, and then 
said: 

When we were kids, you always told me when things 
went wrong with you. Tell me all about it now.” 

I left off being a kid about a month ago. I’m ancient 
history now ” : and she tried to smile through her tears. 

Why?” 

Oh, just because — ” and then her voice broke 
suddenly. 

I suppose Sir Edwin was in love with you ? ” 

She did not reply. 

‘‘And he was obliged to marry the other woman :^r 
the money.” 

He was thoughtful for some moments, and then added : 

“ All the same, when a man like that goes so far as to 


WINDING PATHS 


341 


love a woman, which must be a pretty novel experience for 
him, he doesn’t let her go lightly. He won’t let you go 
lightly, Hal.” 

I shall not see him again.” 

‘‘ Has it come to that already ? ” 

It had to. There was no other course.” 

It sounds rather sudden and drastic.” He watched 
her keenly. A man like that would try to get both of 
you. Did he try, Hal?” 

The hot blood rushed to her face, and she turned her 
head away. 

Well, he would think it the obvious, sensible course, 
I suppose, and perhaps a good many women would, too. 
What did you think, Hal ? ” 

I didn’t think. I hurried away. I shall not see him 
any more at all.” 

He looked at her with a light in his eyes. 

Bravo,” he said; and there was a low thrill in his 
voice. He’ll think the world more of you, Hal.” 

I’m not sure ; anyhow, it doesn’t help very much.” 

“ Then you wanted to go ? ” 

She stared into the fire and was silent. 

I see,” he said simply. You are one of the women 
who would have dared, only ... of course I knew you 
wouldn’t, Hal. And, if you had, I shouldn’t have been 
the one to blame you.” 

Yes,” she told him, still staring at the fire. I could 
have dared under some circumstances. But not these. 
Never under petty, ignoble ones. I think that all makes 
it worse. There were two Sir Edwins. There was one I 
knew, and another the world knew. It was the other that 
triumphed. Mine will never come back. It is all finished.” 

She bowed her head down on her arms. 

Oh, Dick,” she said. I shall miss him badly.” 

But I’m glad you let him go, Hal.” He spoke in a 
quiet voice full of feeling. Most men are pretty casual 


342 


WINDING PATHS 


and indifferent nowadays, and we often say we like a 
woman to be broad-minded, and daring, and all that; but, 
by Jove ! when we know she’s straight as a die, without 
being a prude, we’re ready to kneel down to her. 

Stand to your guns, Hal. I . . . I . . . want to go 
on knowing that you are among those one wants to kneel 
down to. If he is very persistent and persevering, and it 
gets harder, I dare say I can help. You can always ’phone 
me at a moment’s notice, and I shall consider myself at 
your beck and call.” 

You are a dear, Dick, but I shall not see him. He 
can only wait for me at the ofiSce, and I shall go out the 
back way.” 

Still, if you’re rather lost there are lots of things 
we might do to fill up the time. I’ve been going down 
East with Quin lately. It’s awfully interesting. Espe- 
cially with him — he’s so splendid with the most hopeless 
characters. There’s a singsong at one of the clubs on 
Wednesday eve. Come down with us. You’ll see Quin 
at his very best.” 

I’d love to come. Will you fetch me ? ” 

I’ll fetch you from the office, and we’ll have a sort of 
meat-tea meal at the Cheshire Cheese. Perhaps Quin will 
join us.” 

So they sat on and talked in the firelight till it was 
time for Dick to go; and all the time Hal was uncon- 
sciously drawing strength and resolution from him for the 
fight that lay ahead of her. 

Many years ago when she broke her dolls he had tried 
to mend them and comfort her. And now, because he was 
a simple, manly gentleman, blessed with the precious gift 
of understanding — when she was feeling heartbroken he 
tried with all the old, generous affection to help to heal the 
wound, and bring her consolation. 

And away on the southern shore, where a little fishing 
village nestled in the cliffs, and a creeper-covered hotel 


WINDING PATHS 


343 


awaited sleepily the coming of the summer and the sum- 
mer visitors, Lorraine came to what she deemed her hour 
— the one great hour left — and, as a drowning man, caught 
at her straw. Two long perfect days they had spent on the 
sea, with an old fisherman, full of anecdote, and his young 
grandson to sail the boat. 

Then came the dreamy twilight hour, and their utter 
loneness; and Alymer with the strong, swift blood in his 
veins, and the strong lust of life in his heart, lost himself, 
as she meant that he should, in the intoxicating atmos- 
phere of her charm and fascination. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII 


When Hal and her cousin emerged from the office the 
following Wednesday evening, the first thing Hal saw was 
Sir Edwin’s motor, and Sir Edwin himself standing wait- 
ing for her. A disengaged taxi was just moving off, 
having deposited a fare, and instantly, without a word to 
Dick, she sprang into it. Dick gave a sharp glance round 
and followed her. 

Tell him where to go,” she said. 

He directed the chauffeur, and then looked anxiously 
into her face. She had turned very pale, and seemed for 
the moment overcome. 

Sir Edwin’s motor ? ” he asked, and she nodded. 

Shall I call for you every day ? ” he said at once. 

“ No. He can’t possibly see me if I go out the other 
way.” Then she added : He won’t go on for long. He 
was there yesterday, but he did not see me; and after 
to-day I dare say he will give it up.” 

Finally she added, with an effort : 

I heard this morning the wedding is already fixed 
for June. It’s to be one of the weddings of the season 
and her lips curled somewhat. 

I’m more sorry for her than for you, Hal,” he said 
quietly. You’ve a lot of splendid years before you yet. 
Heaven only knows what’s ahead of her. I doubt he’ll 
not give her much besides his name for his share of the 
bargain.” 

She made no comment, leaning back in her corner, 
white and tired. It was difficult to imagine anything ever 
344 


WINDING PATHS 


345 


being splendid again just then; or any man ever seeming 
other than tame, after Sir Edwin’s clever, virile, interest- 
ing personality. 

But Dick had judged wisely in suggesting the trip down 
East. Anything West would merely have recalled painful 
memories. The East of London was new to her, and 
could not fail to be interesting to anyone with Hal’s love 
of her fellows. 

They went to a large parish hall, where Quin was 
in charge for a social evening of dancing and music. 
Factory girls were there in all their tawdry finery to 
dance; rough, boisterous youths mostly made fun of them; 
tired, white-faced, overworked middle-aged women sat 
round the walls, laughing weakly, but forgetting the 
drudgery for a little while. At one end of the room 
older men sat and smoked, and looked at illustrated pe- 
riodicals. 

Hal entered with Quin and Dick on either side of her, 
and was immediately accosted by a young lady, with a 
longer and straighter feather than most of them, with the 
remark : 

Halloo, miss ! . . . Which of ’em’s yer sweet’eart ? ” 

A burst of laughter gi*eeted this sally, but Hal, not in 
the least disconcerted, replied: 

^^Why, both, of course. . . . I’ll be bound you’ve had 
two at a time often enough.” 

The repartee delighted all within hearing, and from 
that moment Hal was a brilliant success at the social even- 
ings. She only wondered she had never thought to go 
before; but perhaps no other moment would have been 
just so propitious. 

The sudden blank in her life craved some interest that 
was entirely new, and made her more ready to receive 
fresh impressions and create fresh occupations. She 
quickly found real pleasure in teaching the girls to dance 
properly, in listening to their outspoken humor, and soon 


346 WINDING PATHS 

developed an interest in their varied and vigorous per- 
sonalities. 

As she and Dick went home together that evening he 
noted joyfully that a little color had come back to her 
face, and there was once more a genuine gleam in her eyes. 

‘‘You liked it?” he asked. 

“ Immensely.” 

“ It grows on one. You’ll like it better still yet. Alymer 
and I have always rather laughed at Quin, and regarded 
him as a crank. But he’s not. It’s just that he loves 
humanity, and he gets quite close up to the core of it down 
there, even if it is half smothered in vice and dirt. I don’t 
believe he’ll ever take orders. It’s partly because he’s not 
a clergyman, and they know it, he’s such a success. To- 
night, for instance, there was a big bullying chap trying 
to spoil all the fun for the men who wanted to smoke peace- 
fully and look at the books. Quin remonstrated, and he 
turned round and swore violently at him. To my sur- 
prise, Quin, if anything, outdid him. I wouldn’t have be- 
lieved Quin could swear like that. I’m sure I couldn’t 
myself. The chap just looked at him, and tried another 
oath or two doubtfully. And Quin said: 

“ ‘ Go on if you like, I’m not nearly through yet. I 
can’t be a blank, blank, blank bully, and I don’t want to 
be — it’s nothing to be proud of; but I’m as much of a 
man as you any day.’ 

“ The other chaps laughed then, and the brute slunk 
off to the other side of the room. 

“ I asked Quin about it later, and he said : 

“ ‘ Oh, well, you’ve got to talk to them in their own 
language, or they don’t listen. That’s the best of not being 
a clergyman. Of course one couldn’t very well curse and 
swear then. But it’s the way to manage them. That chap 
will come to heel in an evening or two, and be reasonably 
quiet.’ 

“ You hit the right note straight off, Hal. Quin was 


WIN^DING PATHS 


347 


awfully pleased. Talk to them on their own level first, 
and presently you’ll be getting them struggling up to yours 
almost without knowing it. He’s frightfully keen for you 
to go again.” 

I’m going every Wednesday,” she said, and other 
times as well.” 

They parted at the door, and Hal went in alone. 

The moment she stood in the sitting room she knew 
that something had happened. Dudley was sitting in his 
big chair by the fire, holding neither book nor paper, gaz- 
ing silently at the fiames. 

At the table she stood still. 

"What’s the matter, Dudley? . . . What has hap- 
pened?” 

There were a few moments’ silence, then, scarcely look- 
ing round, he replied: 

" She’s gone. Eun away with another man.” 

Gone ! . . .” she echoed. Gone . . . with another 
man ! ... Do you mean Doris ? ” 

" Yes. She was married at a Eegistry Office this morn- 
ing. A messenger boy took the letter up this evening, after 
they had left for the Continent.” 

Hal sat down. It was so violently sudden she felt 
stunned. After a moment Dudley got up and moved aim- 
lessly about the room. 

" It’s no use attempting to say anything, Hal. There’s 
nothing to say. Of course I know you’re sorry, and all 
that, but I’d rather you didn’t say it. You never liked the 
engagement, and you never liked Doris. Probably you were 
justified, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me now.” 

"Who has she gone with?” 

" I believe he’s a South African millionaire.” 

" Ah ! ” 

"You had heard of him? . . .” sharply. 

" Only last week, from the tenant opposite. She did 
not know I was your sister, and said something about Doris 
23 


348 


WINDING PATHS 


having two young men^ and one of them was a South 
African millionaire.” 

He made no comment, but continued his aimless walk. 

What about Ethel and Basil ? ” she could not help 
asking. 

They are terribly upset. As soon as I had been shown 
the letter I went out to make inquiries. Ethel could not 
rest for fear everything was not square. She wanted to go 
off after her at once. But it’s all correct. I saw the 
Eegistrar. They were properly married, and they left for 
Dover at eleven, bound for Paris.” 

What in the world will become of Basil ? ” 

He winced visibly. Doris’s flagrant selfishness to Basil 
hurt almost more than her faithlessness to himself. 

She stated in the letter that her husband was allowing 
her a thousand a year for herself, and she was prepared to 
pay a housekeeper to look after Basil and the flat.” 

Little beast,” Hal breathed under her breath. What 
are they going to do ? ” she said aloud. 

The tenant opposite insists upon taking Doris’s place. 
She was sitting with him when Ethel got home, and the 
letter arrived about the same time. Nothing else will 
satisfy her. She is going to be with him all day, and only 
teach in the evenings after Ethel has got back.” 

How splendid of her ! ” involuntarily. 

She hardly seems the kind of person Basil would like, 
but he appeared quite pleased. It may have been a little 
quixotism. All he said was : 

What in the world should we have done without you, 
G ; and there ! only a few weeks ago you were wishing you 
had not been born.” 

How like Basil. All gratitude and understanding as 
usual. But it must have hit him rather hard, Dudley. Is 
he all right ? ” 

I don’t know.” The gloom on Dudley’s face deepened. 

I thought he looked very ill, but I could not get Ethel to 


WINDING PATHS 


349 


say much. She seemed rather to avoid me. I don’t think 
she likes me.” 

Hal was conscious of a little inward smile of gladness. 
She had guessed Ethel’s secret long enough ago, and she 
knew the power of uncertainty and a little thwarting. 
Dudley would naturally try to break down Ethel’s dislike; 
and perhaps in doing so he would grow to know her better. 

I think I must try and get up to-morrow,” was all 
she said. Ethel is so reserved. She will get ill herself if 
she broods and frets on the top of all her work and anxiety.” 

‘^Will you?” he asked, with some eagerness. Basil 
loves to see you; and if he is really worse, I shall get Sir 
J ohn Maitland to go up and see him again.” 

Of course I’ll go. We may be able to help them be- 
tween us.” 

She was Just going away upstairs to bed, when the 
forlornness of Dudley’s attitude, and the thought of her 
own sore heart before Dick comforted her, made her lay 
down her hat again and cross the room to him. 

Dudley, don’t forget you’ve got me still. I know I’m 
very trying sometimes, but I love you so much more than 
Doris ever could have.” 

She sat on the arm of his chair, and played with the lapel 
of his coat. 

Don’t forget about me, Dudley. If you are just only 
miserable, I shall be miserable, too.” 

He looked at her with a sudden greater depth of affection 
than she had ever seen. 

I don’t forget, Hal. If it weren’t for you, what in the 
world should I do now ? . . . It’s no use talking about it, 
is it ? You will understand that ; but thank God you’re still 
here with me, and we can go on the same again.” 

She stooped and kissed him hurriedly, and then left the 
room, that he might not see the tears brimming over in her 
eyes. 

The next morning she rang up Lorraine’s flat, to know 


350 


WINDING PATHS 


if she had come back yet. She was rather surprised when 
Jean her maid answered. It was not like Lorraine to go 
away without her maid. 

^^You don’t know when to expect her? . . she re- 
peated uncertainly. 

No; Miss Vivian said she might come any day, or she 
might stay over another Sunday. She has the motor with 
her.” 

Is she far from a station ? ” Hal asked, contemplating 
the possibility of joining her on Saturday if she had not 
returned. 

About seven miles, I think. She went down in the 
car, and is coming hack in it. I have had one letter, in 
which she says she is having lovely weather, and absolute 
rest, and feeling much better.” 

That’s good. Well, if she comes back suddenly will 
you ask her to ’phone me ? I want to see her.” 

But neither the next day nor the one after was there 
any call, and in reply to a second query on Saturday, Jean 
said she had only received a wire that morning saying she 
was staying until Tuesday. 

Hal was a little puzzled that she had not been invited 
down for the second week-end, but decided Lorraine must 
have meant to return and changed her mind at the last mo- 
ment, leaving no time to get a message to her. 

A later encounter with Dick, however, puzzled her more 
than ever. 

Old Alymer is taking quite a long holiday,” he said. 
‘‘We were expecting him on Tuesday or Wednesday, but 
he never turned up. He was at the Temple on Thursday, 
but went away again in the evening.” 

“I hope Lorraine isn’t ill?” she said anxiously; “but 
of course if she is, she would have sent for Jean.” 

“ Is he away with Miss Vivian ? ” Dick asked in some 
surprise. 

“ Yes ; I made him go,” loyally. “ He had scruples, but 


WINDING PATHS 


351 


really they seemed too silly, and Lorraine looked so ill, and 
he always has the knack of cheering her up and doing her 
good.” 

Dick looked at her doubtfully. 

I hope you were wise,” he said ; “ but they are rather 
fascinating people, you know.” 

‘‘ Oh, nonsense ! Lorraine is quite eleven years older 
than Alymer, and she only likes to look at him.” 

Dick had it in his mind to suggest there had been a far 
greater disparity between her and Sir Edwin, but he only 
said: 

Well, he is good to look at, isn’t he ? . . . and such a 
dear old chap. Nothing seems to spoil him. And of course 
Miss Vivian has done an awful lot for him. If she wanted 
him to go, he could hardly refuse.” 

That’s just what I said,” with a little note of triumph. 

And Jean told me Lorraine had said in a letter she was 
having absolute rest, and feeling much better.” 

Yet, when Hal was alone she wondered a little again 
why Lorraine, after inviting her for the first Sunday, had 
said nothing about the second. It was quite unusual for 
her not to go for a week-end when Lorraine was at the sea. 

She felt suddenly that they wanted to be alone, yet per- 
suaded herself it was only because Lorraine had been so 
tired. 


CHAPTER XXXIX 


Hal^s uneasiness concerning Lorraine and Alymer Her- 
mon was swallowed up almost immediately on Lorraine’s 
return, by a sudden alarming change in Basil Hayward. 
The first time she went to Holloway after Doris’s elope- 
ment, she saw the decided symptoms of change, and her 
report to Dudley caused the latter once more, on his own re- 
sponsibility, to request Sir John Maitland to pay a visit to 
the little flat. 

Sir J ohn’s report was the reverse of reassuring, and they 
all felt the end was at hand. Dudley went to Holloway 
nearly every evening, and sometimes stayed until the middle 
of the night, to sit up with the sick man. 

Hal went from the ofiice in the afternoons, two or three 
days each week. When she was there the tenant from Flat 
G went home to snatch a short rest, in case a bad night lay 
ahead. 

Ethel went quietly on her way, looking as if already a 
sorrow had wrapped her round before which human aid and 
human sympathy were powerless. 

She went to the office as usual, and did her usual work, 
in nervous dread from hour to hour lest a telephone call 
should summon her in haste. She scarcely spoke to anyone 
but Hal; and not very much to her; but it was evident 
in a thousand little ways that she liked to have her near. 

With Dudley a new sort of coldness seemed to have 
sprung up. He was self-conscious and ill at ease with her 
now; anxious to show his sympathy, yet made awkward by 
his self-sown notion that he was antagonistic to her. 

352 


WINDING PATHS 


353 


Ethel did not notice it very much. All her thoughts were 
with Basil. 

Hal saw it and was troubled. She was afraid the slight 
misunderstanding might grow into a barrier that it would 
be extremely difficult to break down later on. However, she 
could only watch anxiously at present, and try in small ways 
to smooth out the growing difficulty. 

Basil himself was the most consistently cheerful of all. 
He believed that he was near the end of his long martyrdom, 
and that in another sphere he would be given back his health 
and strength. 

He had seemed very worried at first about Doris and 
Dudley, but gradually he became philosophical over it, and 
hoped the future would bring united happiness to Dud- 
ley and Ethel. He consigned her to Dudley’s care and 
Hal’s. 

To Dudley he merely said : 

I know you’ll always be a good friend to chum. I’m 
thankful she will at least have you.” 

Dudley did not say much in reply, but he looked suffi- 
ciently unhappy, and withal so glad of the service, that it 
spoke volumes. 

To Hal he said : 

"" Chum is very fond of you, Hal. You’ll keep an eye 
on her, won’t you ? Perhaps there is no one else but you who 
can.” 

Quick tears shone in Hal’s eyes. 

Of course I will . . . two eyes ... I don’t know 
that I shall let her out of my sight at all.” 

Other evenings, because Dudley was so often at Hollo- 
way, Hal went to dinner with the Three Graces. Dick 
often fetched her from the office, and they went back to- 
gether. Now that she had become interested in the East 
End, they had schemes to talk over, and she and Quin were 
never weary of discussing odd characters there, and odd 
histories, and plans for different amusements. 


354 


WINDING PATHS 


Dick joined in at times, but was very busy with his new 
book. 

Alymer Hermon had grown strangely quiet. At inter- 
vals, for the sake of old times, he and Hal had sparring 
matches, but if, as was not very usual, he happened to be 
at home, he was inclined to do little else but lounge and 
smoke, and watch her while presumably reading a paper. 

Hal did not notice it particularly. She had many other 
things on her mind just then, and Alymer only filled a very 
small corner. She was glad he was progressing so satisfac- 
torily. He was well started up the ladder now, and though 
he had had no single big chance to distinguish himself once 
for all, it was generally regarded as merely a matter of time. 
She fancied she did not meet him so much at Lorraine’s, 
but as she did not go nearly so often herself, on account of 
the Holloway visits, she could not really loiow. 

But she noticed that Lorraine also was a little different 
— a little more reserved and likewise quieter. She seemed 
still to be ailing a good deal, and to have lost interest in her 
profession. 

Yet she did not seem unhappy. On the contrary, Hal 
thought her happier than usual in an undemonstrative, 
dreamy sort of way. She was interested in the East End 
social evenings, and on one occasion went herself. 

She was also interested in Basil Hayward, and motored 
up with lovely flowers for him ; but she talked far less of the 
theater, and seemed indisposed to consider a new part. 

I want a real long rest this summer,” she had said, 
free from rehearsals and everything.” 

In mid- June Sir Edwin was married, with a great deal 
of display, and much paragraphing of newspapers. The 
day before the wedding, Hal received a beautiful gold watch 
and chain from him. 

“ Do not be angry, and do not send it back,” he wrote. 
“Keep it and wear it in memory of some one who was 
known to you only, and who has since died. To me, it is 


WINDING PATHS 


355 


like honoring the memory of my best self if I can persuade 
you thus to perpetuate it. Good-by, Little Girl; and God 
bless you.” 

Hal kept the watch and wore it, and the only one who 
demurred was Alymer Hermon. It was spoken of at the 
Cromwell Road flat one evening, when he was present but 
taking no part in the conversation. Dick admired it, and 
she told him it had been given to her recently. 

Quin was not there, and a moment later Dick was called 
away to speak to some one at the telephone. Al3raier looked 
up at Hal suddenly, with a very direct gaze. 

Lorraine told me Sir Edwin gave you the watch the 
other day. I don’t know how you can keep it, much less 
wear it. You ought to throw it into the Thames.” 

Hal flushed up angrily. 

Of course I’m interested in your opinion on the 
matter,” she said, but I had not thought of asking for it.” 

Hermon flushed too, but he stood his ground. 

It would be the opinion of most men.” 

“ ' Most men ’ don’t appeal to me in the least. I am 
quite satisfied with my own opinion in this matter.” 

Still, I wish you wouldn’t wear it,” he urged, a little 
boyishly. The man has shown himself a cad. He was in 
a tight corner, and he let a woman buy him out.” 

And don’t most men take help from a woman at some 
time or other ? ” 

He winced, but answered sturdily : 

Not monetary help. Besides, he didn’t worry much 
about getting you talked of, did he ? ” 

Hal was just going to make a sarcastic retort, when 
Dick reappeared, and the matter was dropped. 

But when she came to think of it afterwards, she could 
not but be a little struck at Alymer’s attitude, and 
wondered why he had taken so much interest in her 
action. 

A few days later Basil Hayward died. 


356 


WINDING PATHS 


Hal was not there at the time, but Dudley had not 
come home at all the previous night, and she was afraid 
that his friend was worse. In the afternoon she had been 
detained at the office, and she hardly liked to go up to 
Holloway in the evening without knowing if she was 
wanted. 

So she sat anxiously waiting for Dudley. When at 
last he arrived he looked haggard and worn and ill. Hal 
stood up when he came in, and waited for him to speak. 

" IPs all over,” he said, and sank into his chair as if 
he were dead beat. 

HaPs heart ached with sympathy. She felt instinctively 
there was more here than grief for a friend whose death 
could only be regarded as a merciful release. 

She was right. For the last three weeks Dudley and 
Ethel had been in almost daily contact beside the dying 
man’s bed. Silently, simply, devotedly they had served 
him together. 

But while Ethel was occupied only with the sufferer, 
Dudley, in the long night watches, had seen at last what 
manner of woman it was he had passed by for the pretty, 
shallow, selfish little sister. 

Ever since the elopement, three months ago, he had 
been changing. It had been the bitter blow that had 
stabbed him awake. In some mysterious way new aspects, 
new ideas, new understanding, began to develop, where 
before had been chiefly a narrow outlook and rigid con- 
formity. 

It was as though in the fulfilling of her work. Life had 
harrowed his soul with a bitter harrowing, that it might 
bring forth the better fruit in its season. The harrowing 
had seared and scarred, but already the new richness was 
showing, the new promise of a nobler future. 

The All-wise Mother works very much in human life 
as she does in nature — topping off a hope here, and a 
hope there; plowing, pruning, harrowing the soil and 


WINDING PATHS 


357 


branches of the mind and spirit, that they may bring forth 
rich fruit in due season. 

The life that she passes by unheeded, leaving it only 
to the sunshine and wind and rain, often grows little else 
but rank vegetation, and develops rust and mold — never 
the crops that are life-giving and life-sustaining to the 
world; never the great thoughts, great deeds, wide sym- 
pathies, that raise mankind to the skies. 

But for Dudley the harrowing was not yet finished. 
Perhaps, indeed, no moment of all had been quite so bitter 
as the sense of his utter unworthiness and utter incapability 
to help Ethel in her hour of direst need. 

The mere thought unnerved him for the little he might 
have done. He was so imbued with the idea of his help- 
lessness, that he could only stammer a few broken sen- 
tences she seemed scarcely capable of hearing. 

He had but one consolation. Toward the end, the 
sick man, suddenly opening his eyes, looked round for 
his sister, and seeing she was absent, had regarded Dudley 
with his whole face full of a question. 

Dudley leaned down to him. 

^^Yes, old chap,” he asked tenderly. ^^What is it?” 

Ethel . . . chum . . . you will try and help her ? ” 

Then Dudley, with his new understanding, had grasped 
all that the dying man hoped. 

I love her,” he said very simply. I have been a 
blind fool, but I am awake now. I shall give my life to 
trying to win her.” 

Oh ! thank God . . . thank God,” Basil whispered. 

It is certain to come right some day — don’t lose heart. 
You have made me very happy.” 

He sank into stupor after that, and spoke no more, 
except for a whispered Chum,” just before he died. 

Then it was that the full fiood of Dudley’s bitterness 
seemed to close in upon him, for his tortured mind trans- 
lated Ethel’s stunned grief into veiled antipathy to his 


358 


WINDING PATHS 


presence; and when there was nothing left for him to see 
to, he went home for Hal. 

In his chair, with his head bowed down on his hands, 
Hal thought he had aged years in the last three months. 

What shall I do ? she asked. Shall I go to 

Ethel 

Yes — will yon ? She doesn’t want me. I feel as if 
she hated my being there now. But if you would go ” 

It is your imagination, Dudley. Things have all got 
a little topsy-turvy since Doris went, but presently you will 
see you were mistaken. Don’t lose heart too quickly.” 

But he refused to be comforted, and merely shook his 
head in silent desolation. 

You’ll stay with her if she wants you ? ” he asked. 

^^Yes, I’ll stay”; and she went away to get her hat. 

As she mounted the stairs in Holloway, the door of 
Flat G opened as if some one within had been listening 
for her, and a stealthy head peeped out. Then a hand 
beckoned. 

Hal crossed the landing and went inside the door. 
The poor music teacher’s face was swollen almost past 
recognition with crying. 

What am I to do ? . . . What am I to do ? ” she 
moaned, rocking herself backward and forward. There 
was only one thing in all the world that made my life 
worth living, and now it is gone.” 

She sobbed bitterly for a few minutes, softened by 
Hal’s sympathetic presence, then she told her brokenly: 

They’re all mourning. Every single soul in this 
dreary building. Considering lie never left the flat, it’s 
wonderful — wonderful; but he knew all the children, and 
they all knew him. And if you know the children you 
know the fathers and mothers. 

Little Splodgkins, as we always called him, has been 
sitting like a small stone effigy on the stairs outside his 
door. He has patrolled the whole staircase for days, keep- 


WINDING PATHS 


359 


ing the other children quiet. I told Mr. Hayward, and 
he sent him a message. He said, ‘Tell him to grow up 
a fine man, and fight for his country, and not to forget 
me before we meet again." The little chap fought back 
his tears when I gave him the message, and he said : ‘ Tell 
him, I thaid dammit, tho I will." 

“ But they"re young, and they"ve got each other, most 
of the other folks here, and I’ve got nothing — nothing. 
Miss Pritchard, I can"t go on again the same — I can"t — 
I can"t."" 

“ You must help Miss Hayward, at any rate for a 
time,"" Hal told her ; “ if you didn’t you would be failing 
him now; and even little Splodgkins doesn’t mean to do 
that.” 

“ No, of course you’re right. I can light the fire for 
her in the afternoon and put the kettle on. It isn’t much 
to be alive for, but he’d say it was worth while. He’d 
say, ‘ What would she do without a G in the alphabet ? " 
wouldn’t he ? I must remember. And now you must go to 
her. It’s worse for her than me, only that she’s still got 
all her life before her, and she’s very attractive, while I 
never seemed to please anyone in my life but him.” 

“Yes; I must go now,” Hal said; “but I’ll come and 
see you again. Come down East with me next Wednesday 
evening, to a social evening in the slums, will you? 
They’re so interesting. We’ll have tea together first. I’ll 
arrange to take you, and then you’ll meet Dick.” 

“ Good-by for the present.” 

Then she crossed the landing, wondering with a sink- 
ing heart how she could ever hope to comfort Ethel. 


CHAPTER XL 


It was not until a spell of exhaustingly hot weather 
set in in early July that Hal saw a still more noticeable 
frailty in Lorraine. 

She was quite unable to act, and spent a great deal of 
time on her sofa near the window, where she could just 
distinguish the river through the trees. It seemed to have 
a growing fascination for her. 

^^I’ve always thought,” she told Hal one day, ^^how 
I’d like to go away from the fret and worry of London, 
smoothly down the river to a haven of sunshine and sea.” 

^^Why don’t you go. Lorry? Why not go at once, 
before you get any weaker ? ” 

I think I must. This sultry heat is too much for me, 
and I’m very tired of London and everything belonging 
to it. I should like to have gone to my old haven on the 
Italian Riviera, but it would be too hot.” 

^^Why so far?” 

Lorraine glanced at Hal with a strange expression in 
her eyes, as she said : 

^^It is a greater rest to get right away. I shall try 
some little place in Brittany. Switzerland is so overrun 
with tourists in the summer.” 

When she was alone, some of the quiet went out of 
Lorraine’s face and a restless look of pain crept in. She 
shaded her eyes and gazed long at the river. 

That old spirit of recklessness, which had caused her 
to hurl scorn and defiance at Mrs. Hermon’s emissary, 
and afterwards allow Alymer to visit her at the little fish- 
360 


WINDING PATHS 


361 


ing village, against his wiser judgment, had passed away 
now, and given place to one of poignant questioning — a 
spirit of questioning concerning that mad action of hers, 
and its results. She could not find it in her heart to regret 
it, not for one moment ; but nevertheless her mind was sore 
troubled concerning the future for Alymer and herself. 

And at the back of all the questioning there sounded 
ever an insistent call to renounce — something above and 
beyond all desire and all seeming, which told her she must 
not remain in his life, that, as far as she was concerned, he 
must be free for the great work of his future. 

And yet how hard it was to go ! Ever and anon her 
longing whispered, Why seek a crisis yet ? Why not go 
on the same a little longer ? ” 

But since, before long, she would be compelled to go, 
and since the nausea of London was gaining upon her, 
she began to feel it would certainly be wiser to start at 
once, and find some homely, quiet spot where she could 
remain in privacy, with her identity unknown for some 
months. 

And always that quiet voice in the background insisted 
that she must cut herself off from Alymer Hermon. 

Soon after Hal had left her he came in, and, standing 
as usual upon the hearth, regarded her with grave eyes. 
He was nearly always grave now, as with some recollection 
that weighed heavily on his mind. 

Lorraine tried to rally him, but without much success; 
and a pitiless thought that had sometimes assailed her of 
late — that he regretted their friendship and everything 
connected with it, struck icily on her heart. 

He was too loyal to show it, and yet, that strong in- 
stinct of womanhood, which reads closed books as if they 
were spread open to the light, sounded its warning note. 
He would never blame her openly, but in his heart he was 
already beginning to find it a little difficult not to do so 
secretly. 


362 


WINDING PATHS 


You can’t go away alone, Lorry,” he said unhappily, 
and I can’t possibly come with you.” 

Of course you can’t,” cheerfully. It isn’t to he 
thought of for a moment. I don’t know whether you can 
even come and see me. You certainly mustn’t run any 
risks just now. Flip tells me Hall is interested, and you 
may get your big chance shortly through him.” 

Still, I shall feel rather a beast.” 

You mustn’t do anything so silly.” 

She got up and came and stood near him, leaning her 
face against his arm. 

If you will write to me often, deary, I shall be all 
right. If you worry I shall be miserable. Try to under- 
stand that you have done nothing to make me unhappy. 
A little while ago I had a dream of how I longed to go 
away with a little one of my own, to some quiet spot far 
removed from all I have ever known. If I am to realize 
my dream, how should I not be happy? It is what I 
asked life to give me.” 

But his eyes lost none of their gravity. It was evi- 
dent, in the midst of his dawning success, some cloud had 
descended upon his horizon, and shrouded much of the 
sunlight. 

Lorraine’s sensitive temperament read it quickly, and 
she decided, for his sake, to hasten her departure. She 
thought her continued presence in London under the cir- 
cumstances was a continual anxiety to him, and that he 
would only breathe freely when she was safe in Brittany. 

She did not know — how should she — that after that 
week’s madness on the southern coast there had come 
rather a terrible revelation to the man whom fortune 
seemed to be smothering with favors. 

It had not come all at once. It had been there, or at 
any rate the gist of it, for some time. But when it was 
present in full force, it had the power to make all the 
adulation, triumph, and hopefulness of his career seem 


WINDING PATHS 


363 


but a small thing and of little account, because of one 
great desire beyond his reach. 

It came definitely into being during those many even- 
ings Hal spent at the Cromwell Eoad flat, when Dudley 
was away in Holloway with his friend. 

It reached a climax of realization when she openly 
wore the watch and chain Sir Edwin had sent to her. The 
night he asked her not to wear it, and she tauntingly re- 
fused, saw him with all his success and favors, one of the 
most perplexed and unhappy men in London. 

It was just the wa5rwardness of the little god Love. 
The fair debutantes with money and influence had left him 
imtouched. No older woman but Lorraine had disturbed 
his peace, or appealed to his deepest affections. 

It was left to Hal, the mocker, the outspoken, the im- 
patient of giant inches and splendid head, to awaken his 
heart to all its richness of strong, enduring love. 

And what did it mean to her? 

The sunshine and the joy might go out of all he was 
winning and achieving, if it might not be won and 
achieved for her — but what did she care — what was she 
ever likely to care? 

Had she not always dealt him laughter and careless 
scorn where other women bowed down ? Had she not, over 
and over, weighed him in the balance, in that quiet, direct 
way of hers, and seen the weak strain that had always been 
there? First the lack of purpose, the idle indifference, 
which, in a different guise, had led up to a memory which 
now tortured his mind — the memory of a mad week; of 
love that was not love, because his whole soul was not 
given with it — ^nay, worse, was actually given iny uncon- 
sciousness elsewhere. If she ever knew of that, what must 
her indignation and scorn be then? Would it not indeed 
separate them forever? 

And even if it did, could it make him unlove her? 
. . . Why should it, since he had waited no encouragement 
24 


364 WINDING PATHS 

before he gave her all? If he knew why he loved her, 
it might. 

But he did not even know that. It was a thing outside 
questioning; something he seemed to have had no free 
will about. It was just there — a strong, undeniable fact. 

Why reason ? It did not need reasoning. He loved her. 
He would always love her — simply because she was Hal — 
and as Hal, to him, was the one woman who filled his heart. 

No; Lorraine did not know just what fire of repent- 
ance and self-condemnation and hopeless aching — her 
recklessness had lit for him; but it was enough that his 
gravity grew and deepened, and she believed she could 
lighten it. 

She made immediate plans; canceled her present en- 
gagement at considerable monetary loss to herself, and 
almost before any of them realized it, had vanished to a 
little out-of-the-way spot in Brittany, alone with Jean. 

Hal was quite unhappy that she could not go to her 
for her own summer holiday, but Dick Bruce’s people were 
taking her to Norway with them, and she would not have 
a day to spare. 

She made Alymer promise to run across and see how 
she was, if possible, and then departed without any sus- 
picions or forebodings, with Dudley and Dick to join the 
rest of the party at Hull, whence they were to start for the 
Fiords. 

When she returned early in September, Lorraine was 
still away, and her letters gave no hint of returning. Still 
a little anxious, she sought an interview with Alymer, ask- 
ing him to meet her for tea the following day. 

The instant they met, Hal saw the change in him, and 
exclaimed in surprise: 

‘^Haven’t you had a holiday? You don’t look very 
grand.” 

Unable to meet her eyes, he turned away toward a 
small table. 


WINDING PATHS 


365 


Oh, yes. I’ve had a holiday. I’ve been in France study- 
ing the language. I can talk like a French froggy now.” 

" Then, of course, you saw Lorraine ? ” 

Yes.” 

^^I wanted to see you about Lorry,” with direct, 
straight gaze. 

He steadied his features with an effort. 

I guessed so.” 

Well, what is the matter with her ? ” 

Nothing very much. She got thoroughly low, I think, 
and is not pulling up very quickly.” 

I don’t understand it,” with puzzled, doubtful eyes. 

Lorry is not like that. She is quite strong really. She 
has only once before gone under like this, and then it was 
a mental strain. I wonder if it is anything the same 
again ? Did you see much of her ? ” 

I saw her four or five times.” 

And she didn’t tell you anything ? ” 

Anything about what ? ” 

‘^Well — about her husband, for instance. He isn’t 
worrying her again, is he ? ” 

She did not speak of him at all.” 

Then what is it ? ... I wish she had not gone so far 
away. I wish I could get to her. Did she say when she 
might be coming back?” 

^^Not at present. She likes being there. She does 
not want to come back.” 

That’s what I can’t understand. Something odd 
seems to have changed her. Have you thought so ? ” 

I don’t think it odd in Lorraine to fancy a long spell 
of country life. She has always loved the country.” 

Not alone,” with decision, except for a good reason. 
I feel there is a reason now, and I do not know it.” 

Suddenly she gave him another direct look. 

""You are changed, too. You are years older. Is it 
your advancing success, or what? ... I don’t say it isn’t 


366 


WINDING PATHS 


becoming,” with a dash of her old banter — ^^but it seems 
sudden.” 

He raised his eyes slowly and looked into her face 
with an expression that in some way hurt her. It was the 
look of a devoted dog, craving forgiveness. 

She pushed her cup away impatiently, half laughing 
and half seriously. 

Don’t look at me like that, Baby,” striving blindly to 
rally him — ^^you make me feel as if I had smacked you.” 

He laughed to reassure her, and changed the subject 
to Norway, trying to keep her mind from further question- 
ing concerning himself and Lorraine. 

After tea she left him to go down to Shoreditch with 
Dick, first meeting him and the forlorn G ” at the 
Cheshire Cheese for their usual high tea. 

It had become quite an institution now that G ” 
should join them, and, as Hal had predicted, she and Dick 
were firm friends. It was the brightest spot of the music 
teacher’s life since Basil Hayward died, and neither of 
them would have disappointed her for the world if they 
could help it. 

To-night Quin was there also, so Hal was able to get 
a few words privately with Dick. 

What in the world is the matter with Alymer ? ” she 
asked. I had tea with him this afternoon. He seems 
awfully down on his luck.” 

I don’t know what it is,” Dick answered. He is cer- 
tainly not very gay— yet that last case he won before the 
law courts closed should have put him in fine feather for the 
whole vacation. Did you ask him if anything was wrong ? ” 

"Yes; but he would only prevaricate. He has been 
in France, you know, studying the language, and he saw 
Lorraine, but he says very little about her. I wish T had 
time to go over and see her. Why, in the name of good- 
ness, is she not acting this winter ? ” 

But Dick could not help her to any solution, and an 


WmD^G PATHS 


367 


accumulation of work kept her too busy to brood on the 
puzzle. 

It was at the end of October the shock came. 

Hal reached home before Dudley that evening, and 
found a foreign letter awaiting her, written in an un- 
familiar handwriting, and bearing the post mark of the 
little village where Lorraine so obstinately remained. With 
an instant sense of apprehension, she tore open the en- 
velope, and read its contents with incredulity, amazement, 
and anxiety struggling together in her face. 

Then she sat down in the nearest chair with a gasp, and 
stared blankly at the window, as if she could not grasp the 
import of the bewildering news. 

The letter was from Jean, partly in French, and partly 
in English. It informed Hal, in somewhat ambiguous 
phrases, that La Chere Madame was very ill, and daily 
growing weaker, and she, Jean, was very worried and un- 
happy about her. She thought if mademoiselle could pos- 
sibly get away, she should come at once. It then went 
on to make a statement which took HaPs breath away. 

^^L'enfant! . . . Fenfant! . . she repeated in a 
gasping sort of undertone, and stared with bewildered eyes 
at the window. 

What could have happened ? . . . What did it all mean ? 

Then with a rush all the full significance seemed to 
come to her. Lorraine, ill and alone in that little far-away 
village, and this incomprehensible thing coming upon her ; 
no one but a paid, though devoted maid to take care of 
her ; no friend to help her in the inevitable hours of dread, 
and perhaps painful memories and apprehensions. 

All her quick, warm-hearted sympathy welled up and 
filled her soul. Of course she must go at once, to-night if 
possible, or early to-morrow. 

Yet as she struggled to collect her thoughts and form 
plans, she was conscious of a dumb, nervous cry : What 

will Dudley say? . . . What in the world will Dudley say ? '' 


CHAPTER XLI 


He came in while she was still trying to compose her- 
self for the struggle she anticipated; and because she had 
not yet made any headway, he saw at once that something 
alarming had happened. 

He glanced at the envelope lying on the table, then 
at the open letter in her hand, and then at her face. 

What is the matter ? . . . Have you had bad news ? ” 

For one dreadful moment observing the foreign stamp, 
he thought something might have happened to Ethel, who 
was taking her month’s holiday on the Continent. When 
Hal looked blankly into his face, as if quite unable to 
tell him, he added hurriedly: 

Is your letter about Ethel ? ... Is she ill ? ” 

Ho, it is not Ethel,” Hal answered, noticing, in spite 
of her distress, his unconcealed anxiety. 

‘‘ Some one is ill, but it is not Ethel.” 

Is it Lorraine ? ” 

He spoke with quiet, kindly concern now, being reas- 
sured concerning the swift dread that had seized him. 

Yes,” Hal said nervously. She is very ill. Dudley, 
I must go to her at once.” 

She got up as if she could not bear the strain seated, 
and moved away to the window. 

It’s all rather terrible,” speaking hurriedly ; but 
don’t . . . don’t ... be upset about it. I can’t bear it. 
I must go, whatever you say, and I want you to help me.” 

What is the matter ? ” He came close to her and 
tried to see her face. Wliat has happened, Hal ? ” 

368 


WINDING PATHS 


369 


Lorry is in trouble.” She was half crying now ; I 
have had a letter from Jean. She has told me something 
I did not know. I did not even suspect it. But I must 
go. You will surely see that I must go, Dudley.” 

Tell me what it is,” he said, in a voice so kind, she 
turned and looked into his face, almost in surprise. He 
met her eyes, and, reading all the distress there, added : 

Don’t be afraid, Hal. I know I was an awful prig a 
little while ago, but . . . but . . . it’s not the same since 
Doris jilted me, and since Basil died. I see many things 
differently now. Tell me Lorraine’s trouble.” 

She is so ill, because if she lives until next December 
she will have a little one. Oh, do you understand, Dud- 
ley ? She is there all alone, because she made a mess of her 
life and is obliged to hide. I must go to her. You will 
help me, won’t you ? ” 

She glanced at him doubtfully, and then a swift relief 
seemed to fill her face. 

^^Yes, certainly you must go,” he said gravely; ^^if 
Jean says she is ill now, I think you should go at once, 
and see for yourself just how things are.” 

Oh, how good of you. I was afraid you would be 
angry and object.” 

He smiled a little sadly. 

I’ve enough money in hand for your ticket. You can 
catch the early boat train, and I’ll send some more by to- 
morrow’s post. Had you better see Mr. Elliott about being 
absent from the office for a day or two, or shall I see him 
in the morning ? ” 

He won’t mind. I’ve got everything straight since 
I came back, and Miss White will do my work for a 
day or two. If you would see him in the morning, and 
just tell him Miss Vivian is very ill and I was sent 
for. He knows what friends we are, and would under- 
stand.” 

^^Very well. Now you must have some dinner, and 


370 


WINDING PATHS 


get to bed, for you will have a long, anxious day 
to-morrow.” 

In a sudden rush of feeling, she put her hands on his 
shoulders and kissed him. 

I’m so grateful,” she said, in a quivering voice. I 
can’t tell you. It has all come upon me as a shock. I 
had not the faintest suspicion.” 

It was not natural to him to be demonstrative, and he 
only turned away with a slight embarrassment, saying : 

“ I’m sure you hadn’t. But I feel I can trust you now, 
Hal, to be discreet as well as quixotic. Your mission, if 
one can call it such, will need both.” 

Then he sought to distract her mind for the present, 
and while they dined he talked of many things to interest 
her. 

“ Do you know that Alymer Hermon has just got the 
chance of his life ? ” he told her, before they rose. I 
heard to-day he is to appear with Hall in this big libel 
case. Sir James Jameson told me at the club. He said 
Hall had taken a great fancy to him, and if he does really 
well over this case he’s going to take him up. He is very 
fortunate. Not one man in a thousand would get such 
a chance at his age. I hope he will do well; I like him; 
and if he isn’t a success over this he may never get such 
an opportunity again.” 

When does the case come on ? ” 

“ Almost at once, I think, but it probably will not last 
more than two or three days.” 

When Hal said good night to him, she remarked shyly : 

I heard from Ethel last night. She loves the Aus- 
trian Tyrol. She said she hoped you were better for your 
trip to Norway.” 

His forehead contracted a little, and he did not look 
up from the book he had just opened. 

Is she better herself ? Is she any happier ? ” 

Hal looked thoughtfully into the fire. 


WINDING PATHS 


371 


I think she is very lonely. I don’t think she will be 
much happier until . . . until . . . there is some one to 
take Basil’s place.” 

No one can do that.” He spoke a little shortly. 
Basil was a hero. I do not know how she is ever to love 
a lesser man.” 

If she loved a man, she would easily see heroic qualities 
in him. She could not love a man who was without them ; 
but that does not mean he need actually be a hero by any 
means.” 

She longed to say more, but was diffident of doing 
greater harm than good. At last she ventured: 

I have sometimes thought she has a warm corner in 
her heart for you, Dudley.” 

“ For me ! . . .” He gave a low, harsh laugh for very 
misery. No ; she despises me. She has done for some 
time. I’m sorry. I’d change it if I could, but it’s too late 
now.” 

Hal moved toward the door. 

It is rather a slur on Ethel to suggest that she could 
possibly despise Basil’s best friend. Don’t let an idea like 
that take root, Dudley. " Lookers-on see most of the game,’ 
you know, and what I have seen has suggested quite differ- 
ently. Good night.” 

Good night. Try to sleep. I’ll take you to Charing 
Cross myself.” 

The next morning Hal started off alone, to find her way 
to Lorraine’s hiding place, and give her what comfort of 
friendship she could. 

And all the time she asked herself with harried thoughts. 
Who has brought this trouble into Lorraine’s life ? ” 

And at the back of her mind was the dread premonition. 
Was it indeed Alymer Hermon ? ” 


CHAPTER XLII 


When Hal first saw her old friend she was almost too 
shocked for words at the swift change in her. Lorraine 
tried hard to smile cheerfully, but she could not hide any 
longer from herself how seriously ill she had grown, and 
she felt it useless to try and hide it from Hal. 

J ean had not told her of the letter, and she knew nothing 
of HaPs coming until she was actually in the house. When 
she saw her, she could have cried for gladness. 

“ How good of you, Hal . . . how good of you ! ” she 
breathed, and Hal, on her knees by the couch, in an un- 
steady voice replied : 

Oh, why didn’t you send for me sooner? Why didn’t 
you let me come here instead of going to Norway? ” 

An hour later she went out to the little post office, and 
wired to London to know if she might remain away for a 
week. 

It was evident Lorraine was very ill indeed and needing 
the utmost care. 

During the day she seemed to grow steadily worse, and 
she could not bear Hal out of her sight. 

I don’t know whether you are shocked or not,” she 
said to her once, but if everything goes all right I shall 
not regret what I have done for one moment. I wanted 
something more real for the rest of my life than I have had 
in its beginning.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. I 
wanted his child to live for.” 

With a caressing hand on the sick woman’s, Hal asked 
in a low voice : 


372 


WINDING PATHS 


373 


Why isnT he here taking care of you now ? Where is 
your child's father ? " 

A swift surprise passed through Lorraine's eyes, as if 
it had not occurred to her Hal would not know the truth. 
Then she said, very softly, Alymer." 

" Ah!" 

The exclamation seemed wrung from Hal unconsciously, 
and after it her lips grew strangely rigid. 

^^Hal," Lorraine said weakly, I've loved Alymer al- 
most ever since I first saw him. I swore I would not harm 
his career, and I have not. I will not in future. But the 
child is his, and I thank God for it. I do not believe an 
illegitimate child with a devoted mother is any worse off 
than the legitimate child with a selfish, unloving one. That 
there is love enough matters the most. What can any child 
have better than a life's devotion ? " 

Later on she said : 

This is his gi'eat week, Hal. In his last letter he tells 
me his big chance has come at last through Sir Philip Hall. 
We always hoped it would. It is the big libel case, and if 
Sir Philip chooses he can let him take a very prominent 
part. He will, I am sure of it. He is very interested in 
him, and he has given him this chance on purpose. Flip 
thinks it will lead to a great deal ; and of course if so it is 
splendid for him." 

Hal said very little. She was overcome at the revela- 
tion Lorraine had made, and seemed quite unable to grasp 
it. 

Meanwhile she waited fearfully for the crisis the doctor 
had told her was impending. She was expecting him to 
call again, and was relieved when at last he arrived bring- 
ing a pieasant-faced French nurse with him. 

She relinquished her post then, and waited for him 
anxiously downstairs. When he came he told her he must 
have another opinion at once, and Hal knew that something 
serious was wrong, and that he feared the worst. 


374 


WINDING PATHS 


The next morning, when she saw Lorraine again, she 
understood that they had saved her life, but probably only 
for a few days at the most. 

Lorraine was almost too weak to speak, but she looked 
into Hahs eyes, and in her own there was a dumb imploring. 
Hal leaned down and murmured : 

What is it. Lorry ? ... Do you want Alymer ? 

Yes,” was the faint whisper. I feel it is the end. 
I want so much to see him once more.” 

I will go to London myself, and fetch him,” Hal said, 
and a look of rest crept into the dying woman’s eyes. 

So it happened that the day before the great libel case 
Hal stood in Hermon’s chambers, and delivered her mes- 
sage. 

It was a tense moment — a moment of warring instincts, 
warring inclinations, conflicting fates. It was surely the 
very irony of ironies, that within sight of his goal, with all 
this woman had maneuvered to give him almost in his 
hands, she should be the one to step suddenly between him 
and the realization of everything his life had striven for. 

To fail Sir Philip Hall at the eleventh hour, under such 
circumstances, could only mean an irreparable disaster. He 
would lose, as far as his profession was concerned, in every 
single way. It would strike a blow at his progress, from 
which it might never wholly recover. 

No wonder, confronted with the sudden demand life had 
flung at him, he stood stock-still, with rigid face, almost 
overcome by the swift sword-thrust of Fate, and made no 
reply. 

Since Hal told him, in a few, rather abrupt words, her 
story, he had scarcely looked at her. When she first en- 
tered his room so unexpectedly, his eyes had searched 
her face as if he would read instantly what she had 
come for— what she had learned. Before hers, his gaze 
fell. 


WINDING PATHS 


376 


I have come from Lorraine/’ she said, and he under- 
stood that she knew all. 

A dull red crept over his face and neck, and then died 
away, leaving him of an ashy paleness. He was standing 
by his desk, and he reached out one hand and rested it on 
some books, gripping the backs of them with a grip that 
made his knuckles stand out like white knots. He did not 
ask Hal to sit down. Commonplace amenities died in the 
stress of the moment. 

She stood in the middle of the room, very straight and 
very still. In a close-fitting traveling dress she looked un- 
usually slim, almost boyish, and something about her atti- 
tude rather suggested a youthful knight, sword in hand, 
come with vengeance to the Transgressor. Yet, even in his 
shame and stunned perplexity, Hermon lost no shred of 
dignity. 

He towered above her, with bent head, rigid, white face, 
grave, downcast eyes, and in spite of every reproach her 
attitude seemed to hurl at him, he yet wore the look of 
nobility that was his birthright. 

When do you think I should go ? ’’ he asked at last, 
with difficulty. 

We ought to cross to-night.” 

To-night! — I — I — ^have a very important case to- 
morrow. It will not last long. It matters a great deal.” 

I know,” was the short, uncompromising answer. 

He looked up with a swift glance of inquiry. Then 
he said quietly: 

Do you know that it may wreck my future to leave 
London to-night ? ” 

^^Yes,” said Hal. '^I know.” 

^^And after all Lorraine did to help me to this hour 
of success, am I to throw away my chance ? ” 

''Lorraine is dying. Her dying wish is to see you 
once more. Is it necessary to discuss anything else ? ” 

Again there was silence between them — silence so 


376 


WINDING PATHS 


intense, so poignant, it was like a live thing present in 
the room. Through the double windows came a far-off 
muffled sound of the traffic in the Strand, but it seemed to 
have nothing whatever to do with the life of that quiet 
room. It did not disturb the silence, in which one could 
almost hear pulse beats. It belonged to another world. 

Once Alymer raised his head and looked hard into her 
face. In his eyes there was an expression of utter hopeless- 
ness. She had not spoken any word of reproach or scorn, 
yet everything about her as she stood there erect and pas- 
sionless, and without one grain of sympathy for his 
struggle, told him that, just as far as her natural broad- 
ness allowed her to condemn anyone, she condemned 
him. 

For a moment a sort of savage recklessness seized him. 
He felt suddenly he was stranded high and dry on a barren 
rock, with nothing at all any more in his world but his 
profession. He had lost all hope of ever winning Hal, 
which seemed to be all hope of anything worth having. 
Nothing remained but the hollow interest of a great name, 
and the lust of power. He had it in his mind for those 
brief, passionate moments, because he had lost all else, to 
insist upon taking his chance. 

Even one day’s grace might save him. The trial would 
perhaps last not more than two, but in any case, a wire 
reaching him in the middle, which he could show to Sir 
Philip, might mean all the difference between success and 
failure. The wire could be worded to hide what was truly 
involved, and the plea of a life and death urgency would 
set him free without any awkward questioning. 

He glanced up to speak, and once again Hal’s attitude 
arrested him. She looked so young, so fresh, so true, so 
vaguely splendid, in spite of the rigid lips that seemed to 
have closed down tightly upon all she must have suffered 
in the last forty-eight hours. 

She was not looking at him now, hut, with her head 


WINDING PATHS 


377 


thrown back a little, she gazed silently and fatefully at the 
clock on his mantelpiece. 

And something about her called to him, with the call- 
ing of the great, mysterious things, a calling that shamed 
and scorned that spirit of savage recklessness; that swift, 
relentless lust of power. 

‘^What is anything in the world,” it seemed to cry, 
compared to being true to one’s friend; true to one’s 
word; true to one’s love?” 

He saw suddenly that in any case success and triumph 
would bring him little enough to gladden his heart; that 
whichever way he turned was gloom and darkness; that 
in that gloom a possible ray of light might still linger, if 
he could keep always the consciousness that, at the most 
critical hour of his life, he had rung true. 

He raised his eyes suddenly, and straightened himself. 

What time does the next train leave ? ” he said. I 
am coming.” 


CHAPTER XLIII 


After Hal had left, Lorraine sank into a stupor from 
weakness, and remained thus until toward evening. Then 
she revived, and seemed to comprehend better all that had 
happened ; all that was happening still. 

She knew that the child she had dreamed of would 
never lie in her arms, and look up at her with Alymer’s 
eyes. She knew that in the first awful moments of realiza- 
tion, and deathly weakness, her whole soul had so craved to 
see Alymer again that she had asked for him. 

A few moments later the stupor had come down upon 
her exhausted senses, and without any further word or 
thought ftom her, Hal had gone on her errand. 

At first, in the darkened room where she had suffered 
so much, she remembered only that very soon Alymer 
might be with her. And the thought, while it quickened 
her pulses, yet made her feel almost faint with the longing 
for him to come quickly. What if they were delayed, and 
this terrible weakness took her away from him without a 
last meeting ? 

The thought that death was approaching did not 
frighten her. She rather welcomed it. When she left 
London in the summer, she had felt that she could never 
go back. She had already fixed in her mind the picture 
of the quiet haven, where she would live restfully with 
Alymer’s child — far away from the turmoil that had 
marked her life almost from its earliest beginning, and 
safe from slander. 

She did not mind for herself. The things that most 
women valued, no longer held much meaning for her. She 

S78 


WINDING PATHS 


379 


had experienced more than most; learned more than most 
how empty success and triumph may become; sounded 
for herself the shallowness of many things that society 
regards as prizes. 

She had been tired for a long time. Now the tiredness 
had reached a climax. If the quiet haven might not bless 
her life, it was, on the whole, better that she should die. 

This quiet fatalism only increased her longing to see 
Alymer once more. It was the one thing in all existence 
left to long for. It merged every remaining faculty into 
one desire. And Hal would bring him. Hal never failed 
anyone. 

Then came the night, and instead of a quiet sleep, 
restlessness seized her. The recollection of the lawsuit 
which was to make Alymer’s name once for all, came back 
again and again with merciless insistence, fighting like 
some desperate thing that last, one, great desire. Try as 
she would to smother it, after a little period of rest it came 
back stronger than ever. 

In vain she told herself that when he knew she was 
dying he would have no wish but to hasten to her. In 
vain, she said also, that success would no longer mean all 
it had done; that with love crying to him from a death- 
bed, he would understand its emptiness and scorn it. 

Another voice, the voice of her truest self, answered: 
"" Ah ! but he is young. Eemember he is young— young- 
young — and you, when you were his age, cared terribly 
to succeed. You say now that success is empty, but at 
least you had the satisfaction of learning the fact for your- 
self. You did not have to take another’s word for it, and 
let your chance pass you by. Just at the moment of grasp- 
ing it. If he is to be left without you, what will he have 
then to make up for the great moment lost ? 

Nay, worse — ^what will he have left to spur him to try 
and regain his proud position, and go on up the heights 
of fame? And for you, of all people, to deal this blow 
25 


380 


WINDING PATHS 


to his future — the ambitious future which you yourself 
have fostered and nourished with such care/^ 

The hours wore on, and still, in spite of the awful 
physical exhaustion, the mental battle raged, draining 
away strength that should have been carefully nursed for 
each bad hour of many days ahead. The nurse watched 
beside her with growing alarm, seeing the feverishness and 
restlessness, where absolute quiet was imperative. 

At last she went to her softly, and said, in a sweet, low 
voice : 

Madame is in trouble. Madame is fretting. It is 
not good. Madame must try to rest.” 

Lorraine turned her feverish, pain-driven eyes to the 
kindly face, with a look of beseeching, but she made no 
reply. 

The nurse laid her cool hand on the burning forehead. 

Madame is not a Catholic, but the priest brings heal- 
ing to all. Shall I ask him to come and pray, that peace 
may be given to the sick mind ? ” 

I cannot confess,” Lorraine breathed a little gasp- 
ingly. I could not bring myself to it.” 

It is not necessary. The priest will come to pray 
if madame wishes.” 

Yes,” was the low response ; please ask him.” 

The little old man who took care of the souls of the 
little old-world village, and had done for three parts of a 
century, came to her at once, with a womanly tenderness 
in his face. In a low voice he blessed her, and then knelt 
down and prayed quietly. 

After a time, some of the anguish died out of Lorraine’s 
eyes. She turned to him weakly and said : 

I am not a Catholic. I do not know if I am any- 
thing, but I want to ask you something. If one has sinned, 
and led another astray, might an act of renunciation per- 
haps save that other from the consequences of the sin that 
was not his ? ” 


WINDING PATHS 


381 


Self-sacrifice and renunciation are ever pleasing to 
God,” he told her simply. He knows that whatever else 
there is in a heart, with self-sacrifice there is also purity 
and nobility.” 

If I thought I alone need bear the consequences, I 
think I could do anything,” she whispered — bear any- 
thing, renounce anything.” 

Again the quiet soothing of a prayer fell on her ears. 
She listened, and heard the old priest praying God and the 
Holy Virgin to help her to find the courage for the sacri- 
fice her heart called for, that if she were about to enter the 
presence of the Most High, she might take with her the 
cleansing of repentance and a self-sacrificing spirit. 

She lay still for some little time listening to the soft 
cadence of his voice, and then she opened her eyes and 
looked at him with a full, sweet look. 

“ I will do it. Father,” she said to him. Perhaps, if 
God understands everything. He will let my anguish of 
renunciation absolve that other from all sin. It is the 
most I have to ask of all the powers in heaven and earth.” 

“ The Holy Mother comfort you, my child,” he said ; 
and with an earnest benediction left her. 

Then Lorraine motioned to the French nurse that she 
wanted her, and gathering all her remaining strength 
asked for a telegraph form and a pencil. The nurse sup- 
ported her in her arms, while with a trembling hand she 
traced faintly the words of her message. It ran : 

Marked change for the better. No need for haste. 
Come in a few days. — Lorraine.” 

It was addressed to Alymer Hermon, at The Middle 
Temple. 

Please take it now at once,” she said. She knew 
that the Frenchwoman could not read English, and that 
Jean was not yet awake. 


CHAPTEE XLIV 


In Alymer’s room at the Middle Temple he and Hal 
were making their arrangements to catch the next boat. 

The moment he had spoken his decision she had turned 
to him with a swift expression of approval, but, for the 
rest, her manner was somewhat curt and businesslike, and 
showed little of the old friendliness. 

It made him feel that, as far as she was concerned, he 
had sinned past forgiveness; and he knew with that un- 
erring instinct that sometimes illumines a wrong action, 
that she judged him harshly because she knew he had not 
loved Lorraine with all his strength. How then could he 
ever hope to tell her that one reason he had not loved Lor- 
raine thus was because, unconsciously, another woman had 
won his heart ; further, that that other woman was herself ? 

No; of course the day would never dawn when he 
would dare to tell her that. An eternity separated them. 

But he tried not to think of it now; to remember only 
that Lorraine, his best friend and his benefactress, was 
dying, and that she had sent Hal to fetch him to her side. 

His face was very grave, and he looked white and ill 
as Hal explained what time he must meet her at the sta- 
tion, but he gave no sign of flinching; no triumph in the 
world could now weaken his resolution. 

''Very well, that is all arranged,’" said Hal, and at 
that moment there was a knock at the door. Alymer 
crossed the room and opened it himself, and was handed a 
telegram. He read it, looked for a moment as if he could 
not grasp it, then, telling the bearer there was no reply, 

382 


WINDING PATHS 383 

closed the door, went back to Hal, and handed it to her 
without a word. 

Hal read, half aloud: 

Marked change for the better. Ho need for haste. 
Come in a few days. — Lorraine.^'' 

For some moments there was only silence, and then 
she looked at him with troubled, perplexed eyes, and said : 

I don’t quite know what to make of it.” 

Doesn’t it mean that she has passed some crisis and 
will live ? ” he suggested. I think it must.” 

Hal still looked doubtful; and at that moment there 
was another knock at the door. 

Again Alymer opened it himself. Lord Denton par- 
ticularly wishes to see you,” he was told. 

Show him in at once,” he replied, and turned to tell 
Hal who was coming. 

Flip Denton had come to inquire for more detailed 
news of Lorraine than he could get from her letters. He 
gathered from them that she was remaining away for the 
whole winter theatrical season, because her health was bad ; 
but any suggestion on his part to run over to Brittany 
and see her was persistently negatived. Finally he had 
come to Alymer. 

The moment he saw them he knew that something seri- 
ous was wrong, and that it concerned Lorraine. But when, 
after learning she was very ill, he asked Hal what was the 
matter, and saw the scarlet blood flame into her face, he 
said no more. 

was with her yesterday,” she told him, ^^and the 
doctor said he feared she would not live many days. She 
wanted Alymer, and I came over to fetch him.” 

And you are going at once ? ” Denton asked him, 
with a curious expression in his eyes. 

"I have arranged to.” 


384 


WINDING PATHS 


Doesn’t your great case come on this afternoon, or 
to-morrow morning ? ” 

Yes.” 

Denton’s grave face did not change. I see,” he said, 
and turned a little aside. 

Then Hal, who had the telegram in her hand, held it 
out to him. 

This has just come.” 

He read it, and his face cleared Joyously. 

Why, that is splendid news — don’t you think so ? ” 
And he regarded Hal with a slightly puzzled air. 

I hardly know what to think,” Hal said. Yesterday 
she was very ill.” 

‘^Ah, but you had to leave early,” reassuringly, and 
she may have been gaining strength all the afternoon, and 
had a very good night. What are you going to do ? ” look- 
ing at Alymer. 

Alymer looked at Hal, and waited for her decision. 

Hal only looked doubtful and troubled. 

I think you should stay for the lawsuit,” Denton 
said, to help her. It is evident that Lorraine wished it, 
and she of all people would not have Hermon miss such a 
chance if possible. I understood Hall it was only likely to 
last two or three days. He has some clinching evidence, 
I think.” 

That is so,” Alymer answered gravely ; but he still 
waited to take his cue from Hal. 

You think he should stay for it ? ” Hal asked Lord 
Denton. 

I certainly think that is what Lorraine would wish 
him to do.” 

Very well.” 

Hal commenced to pull on her gloves as if there were 
no more to say, and then Denton asked her : 

Will you wait, too ? ” 

" No; I am going hack by the next boat.” 


WINDING PATHS 


385 


I will come with you.” 

She glanced at him with slight alarm, and then at 
Alymer. Denton saw the look and seemed surprised. HaPs 
eyes asked Alymer what they were to do. He spoke with an 
effort. 

I expect Miss Vivian would be glad to see so old and 
great a friend as Lord Denton.” 

Of course she would,” he said decidedly — and to Hal : 

What time do we leave Charing Cross ? ” 


Hal spoke very little on the journey. A nameless dread 
weighed on her spirit, and a haunting fear for Lorraine. 
She was oppressed by a sense of deep sadness for the 
brilliant, successful woman she had loved since her school 
days, who was now, after all her triumphs, alone in that 
little foreign village, caught in a maze of tangles and per- 
plexities which offered no peaceful solution. 

She could not understand Alymer’s part at all, but she 
was convinced Lorraine’s absorbing devotion to him was 
not reciprocated in like manner. If Lorraine learned this 
as soon as she recovered, what did the future hold for 
her again but more vain dreams, and bitter hopes that could 
never see fulfillment? 

She felt a little pitifully that life was very hard and dif- 
ficult, even when one had a fine courage and will to face it ; 
and a leaden pall of sorrow seemed to fold itself round her. 

What of Dudley and his hopeless love? Ethel and her 
inconsolable grief? Sir Edwin, and his secret bitterness? 
the gaunt music teacher and her barren, joyless life ? 

Across her mind passed some lines, that had a strong 
attraction for her: 

So many gods^ so man creeds, 

So many paths that wind and wind, 

And just the art of being kind 
Is all the sad world needs. 


386 


WINDING PATHS 


Ah! in truth it was a sad world first of all; a sad, 
sad world in need of kindness and comfort. One could 
but go on trying to be kind, trying to be strong. 

It was the only thing in a life of pitfalls and easily 
made mistakes, to just march straight forward — eyes front 
— and not let anything daunt permanently. She felt, more 
profoundly than ever, it was not wise to turn aside, looking 
to right and left, questioning overmuch of right and wrong, 
probing into the actions of others. 

Each human being was as a soldier in a vast army, and 
all were there under the same colors, led by the same gen- 
eral, to bear, with what courage they could, the fortunes of 
war. Two might be standing together, and one be wounded 
and the other untouched; many disabled, and many un- 
hurt ; some left on the field to die, others found and nursed 
back to life. 

But the soldier was not there to question. If a com- 
rade fell, it was no concern of his how he fell — his concern 
was to try and help him to safety, then go back and fight 
again, undismayed if his place was but a little insignificant 
one in the smoke and dust, unseen by any but a near neigh- 
bor perhaps as insignificant as himself. 

That was the true spirit of the great soldier, whether he 
was in the ranks, lost in the smoke, or whether, on a mag- 
nificent charger, he led gloriously for all the world to see. 

She remembered the change in Dudley, which had led 
him so quickly to respond to her cry, and refrain from 
judging. He was seeing things in that light also, learning 
to fight his own fight as pluckily as he could, and only 
to look upon the warfare of others as one ready to help 
them if it chanced that he was able — learning in place of 
rules and precepts, just the art of being kind.” 

Well, together perhaps they could help Lorraine — if 
she came out of this last encounter bruised and broken. 

Then they arrived, and she and Lord Denton hastened 
down the short road to the little green-shuttered house. 


WINDING PATHS 


387 


At the sound of the latch on the gate the door opened 
quietly, and Jean, with tears streaming down her face, 
came toward them, choking back gasping sobs. 

Hal stood still a second, and then ran forward blindly 
with outstretched hands. 

She is better, J ean — say she is better. Oh, she must 
be, she must; she wired yesterday to say there was great 
improvement.” 

J ean broke down into helpless weeping as she sobbed 

out: 

She died this morning at six o’clock.” 

For one moment Hal seemed too stunned to under- 
stand; then she swayed, and fell heavily into Denton’s 
arms. 

Later when she had recovered, Jean told them of the 
restless, nerve-racking night; of the priest’s visit, and of 
the fast-ebbing strength gathered together to write some 
message the nurse had taken to the post office. After that 
extreme exhaustion had set in, greatly aggravated by the 
mental stress, and they could only watch her sinking from 
hour to hour. 

She only roused once more,” J ean said, and that 
was to try and write a message for you. I have it here,” 
and she produced a little folded note. 

In faint, tremulous words Hal read: 

Good-by, darling Hal. It is hard to be without you 
now, but you will understand why I sent the message. I 
want to tell you it has never been Alymer’s fault; do not 
blame him. I ask it of you. At the last hour I have made 
what reparation I could. Don’t grieve for me. I have 
made so many mistakes, and now I am too tired to go on. 
Give my dear, dear love to Alymer, and say good-by to 
Flip and mother. I am not unhappy now — only very, very 

Your own 

''Lorry.” 


388 


WINDING PATHS 


For the first time since she had recovered from her 
faint, Hal broke down, and Jean and Denton went quietly 
away, knowing it would be better for her afterwards, and 
left her sobbing her heart out over her letter. 

Two days later, fiying the colbrs of a great victory, 
and flushed with the pleasure of warm congratulations 
poured upon him from all sides, Alymer Hermon stepped 
out upon the little station. 

He had never doubted the truth of the message, and 
he carried his head a little higher and his shoulders a little 
squarer, proud and glad to come to Lorraine with the news 
of his greatest success, and tell her of the proud position 
he had won almost solely through her. For had she not 
first imbued him with ambition and the real desire to 
achieve, and then, at exactly the right moment, procured 
him the first little success that meant so much? 

The instant he knew the great case was won, he had 
dashed out of the court, scribbled her a hurried wire, and 
driven frantically to Charing Cross, meditating a special 
train to Dover, if he were too late. He was not, though 
the guard was just about to give the signal for departure, 
and the boat-train bore him from the station, full of that 
glad consciousness of a great achievement, to carry the 
news instantly to her feet. 

On the little station in Brittany Denton was waiting 
for him. And when Alymer saw him the light faded out 
of his eyes, and the smile from his lips. 

She died before we got here,” Denton told him. We 
daren’t let you know, because she sent that message, on 
purpose to give you your chance in the case.” Then, very 
kindly : Sit down, old chap. There’s no hurry. Wait 

and rest a while here.” 

Alymer sat down on the little wooden station bench, 
and buried his face in his hands. 


CHAPTER XLV 


It would seem sometimes that Life has a way of keep- 
ing the balance between joy and pain, by making that 
which is a source of deepest sorrow to one the unlooked-for 
instrument of great joy to another. 

It was so with the sorrow that came down like a cloud 
upon HaFs spirit, while she was yet striving bravely not 
to allow herself to fret over Sir Edwin’s perfidy. 

It was not until after Hermon’s arrival that the an- 
nouncement of Lorraine’s death was sent to the papers. 
After an anxious consultation, Hal and Denton had de- 
cided she would have expressly wished nothing to be done 
which might bring the news to Alymer before his case was 
over, and so, while making all preparations for the fun- 
eral, they refrained from any announcement in the home 
papers. Directly he arrived, the notice was dispatched. 

Ethel Hayward, returning from her holiday to the 
dreary, empty Holloway flat, read it in the train as she 
journeyed. Instantly her mind was full of Hal. She felt 
that in losing the one great woman friend of her life Hal 
would seem to have lost mother, sister, and friend in one. 

She went home to the emptiness of the flat, with her 
heart so full of aching sympathy that some of the bitter- 
ness of her own loss was softened. On her sitting-room 
table was a beautiful array of flowers. She looked at them 
with soft eyes, believing Hal had sent them, and her tender- 
ness made her long to hold the girl in her arms and try 
to bring her a little comfort. 

After a restless, troubled half hour, she decided to go 
389 


390 


WINDING PATHS 


to her. She remembered it was the evening Dudley usually 
spent at the Imperial Institute, and she thought it almost 
certain Hal would be alone. 

She dreaded going if Dudley was likely to be there, as 
the constraint between them was a misery to her, but she 
believed he was obliged to be out, remembering how he 
had always been engaged on Fridays during his engage- 
ment, and she took her courage in her hands for HaTs 
sake, and went to the Bloomsbury rooms for the first time. 

The maid who opened the door was just going out, 
and being somewhat hurried, did not trouble to note 
whether she asked for Mr. Pritchard or Miss Pritchard, 
merely standing aside for her to come in, and then show- 
ing her into the sitting room without properly announcing 
her, she hastened away. 

So Ethel unexpectedly found herself face to face with 
Dudley, alone. 

He was so astonished, that for a moment he seemed 
unable to rise, merely gazing at her with incredulous eyes, 
as if he thought he must be dreaming. 

For the past hour he had sat with a book on his knee, 
without having read a line for all the time his thoughts 
had been with her. He knew she had returned that night 
to her empty, desolate home. He had sent the fiowers up 
himself, to try and mitigate the emptiness and lack of wel- 
come. 

He had longed to go to the station to meet her, if only 
to look after her luggage and see her safely into a cab. He 
hated to think of her arriving alone, and departing alone to 
that empty fiat. His utter helplessness to do anything for 
her, when all his soul ached to do all, tore at his heart, and 
thrust mercilessly upon him again and again his blindness 
and folly in the past. 

And then suddenly, in the midst of it, without any 
warning, she stood there in the room, looking at him with 
startled, abashed eyes. 


WI^^DING PATHS 


391 


No wonder, with a sense of noncomprehension, joy 
leaped to his own, transforming the white, nnhappy gravity 
of his face to swift, questioning eagerness; while at the 
same time he breathed tensely, Ethel ! . . . you ! 

It was the first time he had ever used her Christian 
name, and in spite of her confusion she could not fail to 
hear the ring of gladness, of intense, almost unbelievable 

joy- 

It sent the blood rushing to her white cheeks, and made 
her heart beat wildly. She moved forward a little un- 
steadily. 

“ I saw about Miss Vivian’s death to-day, and I was 
afraid Hal would be all alone fretting, ... so I came to 
see ” 

She broke off. Something like a sudden appeal in his 
eyes was unnerving her. 

Dudley only heard vaguely what she said. 

As she came forward he had seen that she was rather 
overcome; he had seen the quick scarlet in her face, fol- 
lowed by a striking pallor, and the bewildered surprise in 
her eyes. 

What was it Hal had said that evening before she left ? 
He could not remember, but he knew it meant that she did 
not think Ethel indifferent to him as he believed. 

He knew she had meant more, but he had not dared 
to dwell upon it. 

He stood up, but did not move toward her. Instead, 
he just stood looking, looking into her eyes. Hers fell, and 
again the quick color came and went. 

''Hal is not here,” he said simply; "she went to Miss 
Vivian last week.” 

" Oh, I am glad. I was afraid she had not had time. 
I thought, when I saw the flowers. . . .” An idea seemed 
to strike her suddenly. She looked at him, and her eyes 
were full of a question she could not ask. " I thought- 
only Hal knew I should be returning to-day.” 


392 


WINDING PATHS 


knew/’ he said simply. 

^^Did you . . . did you . . she was at a loss to 
finish. 

This hesitating nervousness was new to him. He had 
never seen her before other than calmly self-possessed. It 
called, with swift-calling, to his natural masculine strength 
and masculine protectiveness. It enabled him to grow 
sure of himself, and strong. 

Yes, I sent the flowers,” he answered. I wanted 
badly to come to the station to meet you, but I was afraid 
you might think it an impertinence.” He came a little 
nearer. Should you have thought so ? ” 

He seemed to be waiting for an answer, and she said 
shyly : 

I should have thought it very kind of you.” 

“ I am always wanting to do things for you,” he said, 
and I am always afraid I shall only vex you. And I 
wouldn’t vex you for the world,” in a low, fervent voice. 

Again she gave him a swift, shy, questioning glance, 
and he grew bolder still. 

He came closer, and stood beside her. 

Most of all, I want to tell you that I love 
you with all my heart and soul and strength, and, until 
this moment, I have been afraid that that would vex 
you, too.” 

She raised her eyes then, swimming in sudden tears of 
gladness. 

‘^But it doesn’t? . . .” he said eagerly, ^^you . . . 
you. . . . Oh, Ethel! is it possible you would like me to 
say it?” 

It has been possible a long time, Dudley, but I did 
not think it would ever be said.” 

He took her hands in his and kissed first one and then 
the other. For the moment he was too overwhelmed at 
the suddenness of his joy to understand it. 

I thought you despised me,” he breathed. It did 


WINDING PATHS 393 

not seem possible you could do anything else ; but Hal said 
I was wrong.” 

She smiled faintly. 

Yes ; Hal knew,” she told him. I think she has 
known some time.” Then she seemed to sway a little. 

You are tired out,” he exclaimed in quick commisera- 
tion. What a brute I am, letting you stand all this time, 
after your long journey, too ! I have told myself over and 
over how I would take care of you if I might, and this is 
how I begin ! Forgive me ” 

He gently pushed her toward his own big chair, and 
when she had sunk down in it, fetched a cushion and a 
footstool. She leaned back wearily, looking up at him 
with eyes that were full of deep joy, if not yet emancipated 
from their long, long vigil of sorrow. 

Is this all true, or am I dreaming ? Yesterday — an 
hour ago — I thought it could never happen at all.” 

I, too.” 

He was kneeling on one knee beside her now, holding 
her hand against his face for the comfort of it. 

I was thinking of you when you came. I am always 
thinking of you. My whole life is like a long thought of 
you. I was afraid it would never become any more. Since 
I grew to know myself better, it has never seemed pos- 
sible anyone like you could care for such as I.” 

She gave him her other hand confidingly. 

I think I have always cared, Dudley. Besides Basil, 
there has never been anyone else who counted very much 
at all.” 

It was so good to be sitting there together by a fireside. 
So good indeed that it swept everything away that had 
^stood between them, with swift, generous sweeping. There 
had been nothing real in the barrier, scarcely anything 
that needed explaining, only the foolish imaginings of 
two hearts that had become imbued with wrong impres- 


sions. 


S94 


WINDING PATHS 


I thought I loved Doris,” he told her, still caressing 
her hand ; but afterwards it was like a pale fancy to my 
love for you.” 

I was terrified lest she should wreck both your lives,” 
she answered. She cared so much for money, and the 
things money can buy. Without it, she might have grown 
bitter and hard and reckless. With it, she will grow 
kinder, I think. She felt Basil’s death very much. She 
shed the most genuine tears she has ever shed in her life. 
Dudley, if Basil had known that this was coming, it would 
have been a great comfort to him.” 

“He did know.” 

“ H^ knew ! . . .” in surprise. “ How could he ? ” 

“ I told him. I saw he was fretting very much about 
you, and I guessed what was in his mind. I told him I 
loved you better than my life ; and he said : ^ Thank God, 
it will all come right some day.’ ” 

“ Ah, I am glad that he knew. Dear Basil, dear Basil. 
If he had been less splendid, Dudley, I think I should 
have taken my own life when he died and left me alone. 
But in the face of courage like his, one could not be a 
coward.” 

Later Dudley took her home. At the door he asked 
her pleadingly: 

“ May I come in for a moment ? I want to see the 
fiat as it looks now.” 

She led the way, and they stood together in the little 
sitting room where Basil had lived and died, and where 
Dudley’s fiowers now shed a fragrance of welcome. 

She buried her face in the delicate petals, with memo- 
ries, and thoughts, and feelings too deep for words. 

“ It feels almost as if his spirit were here with us now,” 
he said softly. “ He was so sure he was only going to a 
grander and wider life. I think he must have been right ; 
and that to-night he Jcnows/* 

Tears were in her eyes again. The loss was so recent 


WINDING PATHS 395 

still— the memory so painful. He drew her to him, and 
kissed them away. 

That night, Ethel, that first, terrible night when you 
were alone, it nearly killed me to have to go away and 
leave you, to feel I could not do anything at all. You 
must let me comfort you doubly now to make up for it. 
You must come to me quickly.” She smiled softly, and he 
added : It would have been Basil’s wish, too. He hated 

the office as much as I do. Tell them to-morrow that 
you’re not coming any more.” 

Her smile deepened at his boyishness. 

There are certain hard-and-fast rules to be observed 
about leaving. I’m afraid they won’t waive them for 
you.” 

Well, tell them you are going to be married. . . . 
You are going to be married, aren’t you ? . . .” For a mo- 
ment he was almost like Hal. Well, why don’t you 
answer? I want to know.” 

I haven’t made up my mind sufficiently yet,” with a 
low, happy laugh. 

Then I must make it up for you.” 

His manner changed again to one of wondering, ab- 
sorbing tenderness. Hal had been right, as usual. Under 
the man’s surface-narrowness and superiority was a deep, 
true heart that had only been waiting the hour of its great 
emancipation. He took her in his arms and kissed her 
again and again. 

Child,” he breathed, haven’t I waited long enough ? 
Every hour of the last few months, since I knew, has been 
like a year. Don’t make me leave you here alone one mo- 
ment longer than is necessary.” 

So it happened that when Hal came back to a dreary, 
empty, joyless London, an unexpected gladness was waiting 
for her. 

The last few days had almost broken her spirit. The 


396 


WINDING PATHS 


pathos of that lonely, far-off grave, in the little alien 
churchyard, where they tenderly left the remains of the 
beautiful, brilliant woman who had been so much in her 
life for so long, seemed more than she could bear. 

They three had stood together, representing her rich- 
ness in friendship, her poverty in blood ties. The wire to 
her mother had only brought the reply from some one in 
London that she was traveling in the south of Italy, and 
could not possibly arrive in time. 

Alymer still seemed almost stunned. He had scarcely 
spoken since Denton told him what had happened. At 
first Hal had declined to see him at all, but in the end 
Denton, with his shrewd common sense, had talked her 
into a kindlier mood. 

When they came back from the churchyard she had 
gone to him in the little sitting room, where he sat alone, 
with bowed head. He stood up when she came in, but he 
did not speak. He waited for her to say what she would, 
with a look of quiet misery in his eyes that touched her 
heart. 

For the first time she saw how changed he was. There 
seemed nothing of the old boyishness left. Only a quiet, 
grave, deeply suffering man. 

She had no conception that she, personally, added 
every hour and every moment to that suffering. She did 
not know he was enduring a bitter sense of having lost her 
forever, as well as the friend and benefactress he had un- 
doubtedly loved very dearly, if not with the same passion- 
ate love that she had known for him. 

But he only stood before her there, very straight and 
very still, and with that old, quiet, ineradicable dignity 
which never failed him. 

'^Lorraine left a little written message for me,’’ she 
said to him. 

She paused a moment, and her eyes wandered away 
out to the little garden, with its last fading summer beauty 


WINDING PATHS 


397 


yielding already to autumn. And so she did not see the 
expression in his fine face when he ventured to look at her. 
She did not know that because of his hopeless love, and 
withal his quiet courage and quiet pain, at that moment 
he looked even more splendidly a man than perhaps he had 
ever done before. 

Had life been kinder, he would have crossed the space 
between them in one step, and folded her in such an em- 
brace as would have lost her slim form entirely in his 
enfolding bigness. He would have given her a love, and 
a lover, such as falls to the lot of but few women. 

And she stood there, with her head half turned away; 
with sad eyes and drooping lips that went to his heart; 
her mind full of her dead friend, and scarcely a glance for 
him. 

She said I was not to blame you for anything, and 
she told me to give you her dear, dear love.” 

He winced visibly, but stood his ground. 

Thank you,” he said, in a very low voice. 

Then, with a sudden, longing triumphing over all : 

I prefer to take the blame upon myself, but even 
then I hope some day you will find it possible to forgive 
me.” 

I shall never forget how much Lorraine loved you,” 
was all the poor hope she gave him. 

Will that make it possible for us to remain friends? ” 

^^Yes; I hope so.” She gave him her hand with an 
old-fashioned solemnity. For Lorraine’s sake,” she said 
very simply, and then left him. 

He turned with a stifled groan, and, leaning his elbows 
on the mantelpiece, buried his face in his hands. 

Yet in that painful hour, out of all the tragic mistakes 
of her life, Lorraine might have gleaned this gladness. In 
tliat hour he was nearer than he had ever been before 
to the man she had striven to make him; for, mercifully 
for all mankind, there is a power outside ourselves,” 


398 WINDING PATHS 

which out of wrong, and weakness, and pain can bring 
forth good. 

The sad trio returned to London the following day, 
and Hal wondered forlornly if Dudley would leave his 
office early to come and meet her. 

When she stepped out on to the platform he and Ethel 
were standing together, looking for her. Then they saw 
her, and Ethel came forward first, holding out both hands, 
with a subdued light in her face, that made Hal pause and 
wonder. 

How did you know ? It was nice of you to come,’^ 
she said, with another question in her eyes. 

Dudley told me, dear. I have been thinking of you 
so much.” 

Then Dudley stepped up to them, and in his face, too, 
was this subdued gladness. 

Hal looked from one to the other. 

Have you ? . . she began, and paused uncer- 
tainly. 

Yes, dear ” ; and Ethel blushed charmingly. I am 
going to be your sister, so I thought you would let me 
begin at once, and come to meet you, and try to comfort 
you a little.” 

Oh,” said Hal, drawing a deep breath ; and I 
thought I was never going to be glad about anything 
again.” 


CHAPTEE XLVI 


It is necessary to take but a cursory glance at the events 
that followed. Life flowed smoothly enough in its way, 
but it flowed toward higher and greater achievements for 
some, and that can only mean a story of obstacles, and 
drawbacks and difficulties sturdily overcome. 

For the three inmates of the Cromwell Eoad flat it held 
many prizes. 

Alymer Hermon’s career continued to advance by leaps 
and bounds. The ‘^taking up” by Sir Philip Hall be- 
came quickly an actual fact, and he was soon easily first 
among the juniors. What he lacked in years and experience 
his striking presence and personal charm supplied, and his 
calm gravity and self-possession went far to counteract 
his youthful appearance. 

Dick Bruce finished his great novel, and though it 
was not quite the jumble about vegetables and babies he 
had prophesied, it was considered the most original book 
of the year, and brought him instantaneous recognition 
and fame. 

Quin inherited some money, and built a wonderful 
East End Club House that is all his own, and is as the 
apple of his eye. 

If the great solution of life is to find one’s true environ- 
ment, he has at any rate found his ; and in finding it knows 
a happiness, even amid the squalid poverty of Shoreditch, 
such as is found by few. 

In the meantime Hal continued to work and be inde- 
pendent. When Ethel and Dudley married, they tried 

399 


400 


WINDING PATHS 


hard to persuade her to live with them, but she had 
already bespoken a smaller sitting room with her 
old landlady, Mrs. Carr, and made up her mind to live 
there. 

Later, when Dudley began to add to his income, they , 
begged her to give up her work, but she was obdurate, again 
expressing certain views on the boon of steady occupation 
they could not gainsay. 

It is so boring sometimes,” Ethel remonstrated, and 
she answered: 

Not so boring as idleness in the long run, and having 
to make up your mind each day what you are going to 
do next. The girls who only enjoy themselves without 
work little know what they miss in never waking up in the 
morning to say, ^Hurray! this is a holiday.’ No! give 
me my work and my play well balanced, and I’ll turn them 
into happiness.” 

It was months before Alymer dared to speak to her of 
love. It had taken him long to win her to the old fooling 
again; and in a sudden gladness at some little remark 
or touch that seemed to show him he was truly forgiven 
for his own sake, he told her the story of his love, and his 
long waiting. 

Hal was very taken aback, and a little unhappy, but 
when she had convinced him it was really quite hopeless, 
he forced himself back to the old comradeship, and took 
up his self-imposed burden of waiting once more. 

Then followed a period of rapid successes, during 
which Hal told him seriously he must now make a choice 
among the bevy of beauty, wealth, and lineage at his 
disposal. 

You really ought, you know,” she said, out of con- 
sideration for all the poor things left hoping against hope, 
and the numbers that are yearly added to them 1 ” 

I have made my choice,” he answered ; it is not 
my fault about the vain hopes. It is the obstinacy of 


WINDING PATHS 


401 


one woman, who is keeping the others in the unfortunate 
condition you describe.’’ 

But she only smiled lightly, and put him off again, 
concluding with: 

I should be frightened out of my life at possessing 
anything so beauteous and attractive in the way of a 
husband.” 

So Hermon worked on, and waited, believing in his star. 

Yet there were times when the apparent hopelessness 
of it weighed heavily on his mind — times when the very 
luster of his success seemed only to mock him, because of 
that one thing he craved in vain. 

It was so when the greatest achievement of his life 
came to his hands. 

It was given him to plead for a woman’s life against 
a charge of poisoning her husband, pitting his youth and 
slender experience against the greatest advocate of the 
Crown. The case caused a great stir, and with a growing 
wonderment and pride she hardly dared to account for, 
Hal followed the newspaper reports day by day. 

The evening before the speech for the defense he came 
to her. She greeted him as usual, saying little about his 
present notoriety, but she noticed that he looked careworn, 
as if the strain were becoming too much for him ; and then 
suddenly he stated his errand. 

I want you to come to the court to-morrow, Hal. 
I — I — have a feeling I want you to be there when I am 
speaking. Will you come ? ” 

She looked up doubtfully. 

Why do you want me ? ” 

I hardly know. I mean to save this woman if I 
can. She did not give the poison. I am quite certain 
of it; but we can’t prove it absolutely. We can only 
appeal in such a way to the jury that they will feel the 
case is not merely not proven against her, but that she 
is innocent. I think it would inspire me more than any- 


402 


WINDING PATHS 


thing if you were there.” He paused, then added : I 

love you so much, Hal, I feel as if I shall save her life if 
you are there.” 

Hal looked touched, and agreed to go if he would 
arrange everything, and telephone to her what time to 
arrive. 

The next day she went to the court with the card 
he had given, and found herself received with the 
utmost deference, and ushered at once to a seat reserved 
for her. 

A few minutes afterwards Alymer stood up to make his 
great speech, and then Hal heard a subdued murmur 
around her, and saw that the judge was watching him 
with some interest and expectancy. 

It was the first time she had seen him in his wig 
and gown, in court, and her heart began to beat strangely. 
She felt suddenly and unaccountably incensed with the 
women all round, who whispered and gazed. What was 
he to them anyway! How idiotic of them to murmur 
to each other how splendid he looked ! What did he care 
for their approval ? ” 

Her heart carried her a little farther. What is he 
to you? . . .” it asked. She felt a sudden warm glow of 
pride, and her eyes gi’ew very soft as she watched him. 

Then he began to speak, and it seemed as if everything 
in heaven and earth had paused to listen. Surely there was 
no big thoroughfare with hurrying multitudes just outside, 
no continual stream of noisy, hurrying traffic; no busy 
newspaper offices awaiting each flying message — nothing 
anywhere but that crowded hall, that white-faced accused 
woman waiting for death or freedom, that man in his 
beauty of manhood and power straining every nerve to 
save her. 

An hour passed. No one spoke, no one moved. Some- 
times a sob, hastily stifled, broke the oppressive hush, 
sometimes a stifled cough. 


WINDING PATHS 


403 


Alymer rarely raised his voice, for his was no impas- 
sioned, heated declaration. It was a magnificent piece of 
quiet oratory, which carried everyone along by its earnest- 
ness and convincing calm, and was intensified by the look 
upon his noble, resolute face. 

After a time everyone knew instinctively that he had 
won. The tension grew less taut and more emotional. 
Women began to weep softly and restrainedly. Men cleared 
their throats again and again. Some one sitting next to 
Hal apparently knew him, and knew her. 

My God,” he breathed in her ear, he’s magnificent. 
He’s saved her. I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. 
I’m proud to be his friend.” 

Hal’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. She began to 
feel dazed and faint. It had been too much for her, and 
the relief was overwhelming. 

She thought of Lorraine, and her heart swelled to think 
he had so gloriously fulfilled her vast hopes, and crowned 
all she had done for him. She longed that she might have 
been there, and then felt mysteriously that she not only was 
there, but was speaking to her. In a vague, unreal, mys- 
tical way, Lorraine was pleading with her to give him his 
happiness. 

She looked again, confusedly, at the big, strong, calm 
man; and something that had been growing in her heart 
for months took shape and form. 

What did the other women matter? He was hers — 
}^ers — hers. Why stop to question or demur? What 
did anything matter but that he had loved her 
so long and faithfully; and that at last she loved 
him? 

In a stress of unendurable emotion, she got up un- 
steadily, and left the court. 

A quarter of an hour later, Alymer finished his speech, 
and sat down instantly turning his head to look for her. 
Instead of the familiar, eager face of the first hour. 


404 


WINDING PATHS 


he saw the empty space, and his overwrought mind sank 
to a dull level of bitter disappointment. 

She was not impressed, then — not even interested 
enough to stay until the end. Oh, what did it matter? 
She was hard — hard, and he was a fool to love her 
so. 

The jury went away and came back with their verdict 
of Not guilty.’’ 

There was a rush and buzz of congratulations. He 
smiled, because he had to smile, and grasped outstretched 
hands because he had to grasp them. The moment it 
was possible to get away, he walked blindly and hurriedly 
to the entrance, and got into a taxi, before the waiting 
crowd had had time to recognize him. 

Where to ? ” a policeman asked him, and for a mo- 
ment he was at a loss to know. Then he gave Hal’s 
address. Better have it out and done with,” was his 
thought. Once for all he would make her tell him if it 
was hopeless, and if she said yes, he would go away and 
try to forget her in another country. 

When he was shown into Hal’s little sitting room, he 
found her crouching on a footstool in the firelight, before 
the fire. He stood a moment or two and looked at her, 
and then he said in a slightly harsh voice : 

I suppose you hurried away because you were bored. 
I thought you would have stayed until the end. I was 
a fool. Nothing I do ever has interested you, or ever will.” 

Hal did not look round. She was staring into the 
flames, with her chin resting in her hands. When he 
paused she said calmly: 

“ I can’t hear what you say so far away.” 

He moved across the room and stood on the hearth 
beside her, towering above her, with his eyes on the oppo- 
site wall. 

I don’t know why I came here at all,” he continued ; 
‘^but it didn’t seem any use going anywhere else. Why 


WINDING PATHS 


405 


did you run away in the middle ? Did you want to punish 
my presumption for wishing to try and distinguish myself 
before you, as well as save a woman’s life and honor ? ” 

A little smile shone in Hal’s eyes, where the firelight 
caught them. 

I can’t hear what you say, right up there, near the 
ceiling.” 

He looked down at the dark shapely head, and some- 
thing in her poise and in her voice made his heart suddenly 
begin to thump rather wildly. 

I haven’t got a bean stalk,” she added. 

He leaned a little toward her. 

And if you had ? ” he asked tensely. 

If I had, I would perhaps climb up it.” 

He leaned lower still, his heart thumping yet more 
wildly. 

“ If you climbed up a ladder like that, you would be 
bound to climb into my arms.” 

Well — and what if I did ? ” she said. 


( 1 ) 


THE END 






















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ficialities of society life in VVashington. Joshua Craig is a young lawyer who 
is striving to make a name for himself in national politics. He is big, rough, 
and crude, repelling and yet compelling. He fights quite as hard to gain the 
love of a lady as he does to attain his coveted political goal. 

Illustrated by A. B. Wenzell. i2mo^ cloth^ 

Old Wives for New 

A daring title. The story is just as daring, but nevertheless it rings true. 
It is a frank and faithful picture of married life as it exists to-day among cer- 
tain classes in this country. It is the story of a young couple who loved as 
others do, but whose love turns to indifference, and Mr. Phillips shows us why 
their married life was a failure. 

j2mo, cloth, Si-jo 


The Second Generation 

It is a double-decked romance, telling the love stories of a young man 
and his sister, both reared in great extravagance and suddenly left without 
means by their father, who, being a self-made man has come to feel that his 
wealth has been a curse to his children, and would prove their ruination if left 
to them. The young man and the young woman find life very hard sledding 
for a time, but gain strength and courage and make a good fight for love, 
happiness, and life. 

Illustrated, 127710, orna 7 nental cover in colors inlaid, $1.^0 

Light-Fingered Gentry 

In this story Mr. Phillips has chosen the inside workings of the great 
insurance companies as his field of battle ; the salons of the great Fifth Avenue 
mansions as the antechambers of his field of intrigue ; and the two things 
which every natural big man desires, love and success, as the goal of his lead- 
ing character. 

Illustrated, or 7 tai 7 iental cloth, $i.SO 

The Worth of a Woman— A Play 

“ It is a remarkable piece of work, showing keen, logical thought, a 
daring rush to conclusions, a bold and sportsmanlike grip of an ugly problem. 
I admire the pluck of this author. — Alan Dale in the N. Y, American. 

i2mo, cloth, $1.2^ net 


D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK 


444 


BOOKS BY DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS 


The Husband’s Story 

i2mo, Cloth, ^1.50. 

A clean, straightforward novel, interesting from page to page, and 
as a whole most interesting because Mr. Phillips has with great skill 
written it so that the millionaire husband not only shows the character 
of his wife but lays his own character before the reader as if uncon- 
sciously. A faithfully true picture of the social climber in American 
womanhood, the Passaic undertaker’s daughter who climbs to Euro- 
pean chateau life. The most cold-blooded and accurate presentation 
of a certain type of money-making, hard-working commercial man. 
And yet the man tells his own story. 

The Hungry Heart 

i2mo, Cloth, 151.50. 

“ Mr. Phillips’s book is at once an interesting piece of fiction and a 
trenchant dissection of some of our most dearly loved self-deceptions. 
And it is a work that can be read with profit — one is almost inclined 
to say that should be read — by any who are old enough to be able, and 
honest enough to dare, to seek the truest meanings of life by teaching 
themselves to look life unblinkingly in the face.” — y. B. Kerfoot in 
Everybody s Magazine. 

“The most profound study of the emotions of men and women 
attempted in latter-day fiction is found in ‘The Hungry Heart.’ It 
should touch the sensibilities, the judgment and the emotions of every- 
one who reads it .” — Philadelphia Record. 

White Magic 

Illustrated by A. B. Wenzell, Color Inlay by Harrison 
Fisher on Cover. i2mo. Cloth, ^1.50. 

A wayward girl, heiress to a great fortune, falls deeply in love with 
an artist of small means, who does not seem to reciprocate her feeling. 
Her father intervenes. The girl, who, like her mother, has always been 
accustomed to bow to her father’s aggressive will, now defies him utterly 
and leaves her home. The artist remains unaware of the havoc he has 
created. He is friendly in a manner toward the girl and tr.'es to act as 
a sort of elder brother and counselor in her perplexities. The working 
up and working out of this tangled situation is accomplished in a masterly 
way, and with the intense and dramatic situations which readers have 
learned to look for from Mr. Phillips. 


D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW '^'ORK 


467 








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